


No Guidance Is Offered, No Forgiveness Is Promised

by letitrainathousandflames



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Decapitation, Gunshot Wounds, Heavy Angst, Imperial Padmé, Other, Read at your own discretion, Sith Anakin, Sith Obi-Wan, angst with a sad ending and everthing hurts bigtime so, dark side/light side dynamics, grey morality, i'll just tagging as it progresses but the bottom line is, obi wan follows them, padme and anakin join the dark side, this is what we are going for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 09:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12208242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letitrainathousandflames/pseuds/letitrainathousandflames
Summary: “Their corpses littering the temples, clone troopers, jedi, your allies and every member of the republic who had dared to defy the dark side and even your precious younglings, your children; Your prized soldiers turning against you and your codes as you turned your back on all those who needed you. And now you dare wish for closure, as I am the only one who can give it to you.”A story is told, of three friends who tried to save the galaxy by plunging it into a war that could bring them to the brink of complete destruction.





	1. Prologue - Tatooine

Summer in Tatooine is something else.  The planet is a desert in which nobody likes to spend much time. The rocky landscapes and the steep canyons are not beautiful enough to be worth a long visit, and unless you were trading slaves for the huts, moisture farming or pumping oil from the ground, you wouldn’t have any business in this wretched place. The twin suns made the summer there almost unbearable.

It’s a rather dull night at the Mos Eislei Cantina. Even the musicians are playing rather slowly, in an almost solemn way. The heat had made everyone a bit lethargic. A very small figure dressed in a ragged brown robe has their features darkened by the shadow of  their hood as they remain sitting at the booth by the back wall ignored by all but the bartender, who stops by their side, wrinkling his nose at the smaller one as if they are an unwanted guest.

“I can’t let you just sit here without ordering anything, you know?”

The small figure raises a green, wrinkly hand that has three fingers with yellowed claw-like nails.

“Leave me alone, you will.” he says in a raspy old man's voice.

The bartender has his features completely blank now as if a great weight had just been taken off his shoulders, and his eyes are dazed. He straightens himself up, walking away while he mutters to himself:

“I will leave you alone.”

As he is walking away from the small creature’s table, someone else walks past him; a tall man dressed in a long black cape with a hood that also hides his face. The tall man stops in front of the table, right across the green one whose hands are now crossed over the scratched wooden surface.

The tall man scoffs, his voice a soft whisper that can barely be heard under the slow jazzy tune played by the musicians onstage. The man’s voice is silky and spiteful.

“It really is you, then, master Yoda. Although you are master of none these days.”

The music keeps on going, the charming troguta across the bar keeps talking softly to a man who seems to be interested in buying her a drink and the bets keep happening at a table full of Chiss men whose blue features give nothing about their cards away. It’s been long, far too long ever since Yoda’s name was worth turning a head for. The commonfolk would not have heard of him at that point, and any men or women who ever had now thought that he was dead anyway. The glorious days of the jedi were long gone.

Yoda does not raise his face to meet the eyes of the stranger who then looks around sounding rather disgusted:

 “And you demand me to meet you in Tatooine, the galaxy’s dump of all places. I can’t help but wonder why.”

Once again Yoda is silent, and the stranger turns on his heels, speaking over his shoulder.

“If you intend on wasting my time…”

“Nowhere to go, you have.” says Yoda calmly at once “A conversation, we must have.”

The stranger hesitates and his hand disappears into his cloak for one brief instant before he slowly withdraws it, as if he had reached for a gun but changed his mind.  Without another word, he turns again and the chair in front of him moves by itself away from the table. The tall man sits in front of the old jedi master, crossing his arms in front of his chest. The gesture is exaggerated, almost as if he was a bored man demanding Yoda to show him something entertaining.

Silence lingers between the two men, sitting heavy in the smoky atmosphere, and despite their darkened features, the two of them know that one is carefully examining the other. The talking, the laughter and the clinking of glass in the bar seem to almost die out around them, just as though such mundane interactions have no place in the tense moment during which the two men gaze into each other.

The tall man then breaks the silence.

“’A conversation’, you say. With me?”

Yoda raises his face just enough so that the light can reach the lower half of his face, while his eyes remain shadowed. His skin is of a pale, almost grayish green and it makes him look like a dead chemilizard’s hide. His wrinkled lower lip quivers almost unnoticeably before he nods, speaking in his raspy, deep voice.

“The last of them, you are.”

The tall man pulls away from the table, lowering his arms down as he reaches for the weapon hanging from his belt under his robe. Not a blaster or a staff, as you would see most warriors carrying nowadays, but a lightsaber. The man’s hand runs over its metallic grip, and when he raises eyes towards Yoda, the jedi can get a glimpse of the yellow irises surrounded by a crimson rim. Yoda does not look at the hand reaching for the lightsaber, or around the cantina where nobody seems to notice the tension between the two cloaked individuals. Instead, he closes his eyes and sighs.

“Duel, we will not. At once be at ease, Darth--”

“ _Do not call me that._ ”, snaps the tall man, almost spitting out the words “Tell me what you wish and get this over with.”

Yoda doesn’t open his eyes, drawing a deep breath. The tall man slowly pulls his hand out of his robes and taps a finger on the table rhythmically, and after almost a full minute in silence, Yoda opens his eyes, his voice sounding stern and solemn.

“How it happened, I must know. The whole story, you have seen. Tell me.”

The tall man lets out a laugh that could have sounded like a cough and places his elbows on the table, leaning in order to be at eye-level with Yoda. The man’s voice is dripping with contempt.

“So this is the treasure the old jedi have been hunting for.” he scoffed “How shameful of you, after everything that happened, after the chaos you allowed to be ensued and the beautiful mayhem you let this galaxy become, you come to me for answers.”

Yoda falls silent again, and the tall man shakes his head, the harshness of his words betraying the velvet of his voice:

“Their corpses littering the temples, clone troopers and jedi, your allies and every member of the republic who dared to defy the dark side, and even your precious younglings, your children… Your prized soldiers turning against you and your codes as you turned your back on all those who needed you.” the man scoffed once again “And now you dare wish for closure, as I am the only one who can give it to you.”

Yoda does not flinch at his words, but he does lower his head. The tall man cannot know if it is out of grieving, shame or both, nor does he care. However, he intertwines his fingers, falling silent in a moment of hesitation before he speaks again. His voice sounds dry now, as if he recollected a story that did not pertain to him.

“After jedi warrior Anakin Skywalker pledged his alliance to the Sith Emperor, everything went to chaos…”


	2. Pledge and Purge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A recollection on Anakin's deeds, his fall to the dark side and his aiding in the Jedi purge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that most of all things pictured here were seen in the movies, but I think that seeing Anakin's take of it all will help the development of the story later on. Thanks for the comments and kudo's and may the force be with you.

_It won’t be easy_. Anakin was thinking to himself, sitting on the balcony of the small apartment he’d share with Padmé under the guise of guarding the senator. _It’s not supposed to be easy._

The nightmares plaguing Anakin’s mind fueled his fear of losing Padmé and his unborn child, but it wasn’t only that. He also feared losing Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. How could Yoda ask him not to get attached? How could he be so empty, so heartless?

Growing up in Tatooine as an only child and a slave had made Anakin crave for connections, for a big family of his own and Ahsoka was like a dear younger sister to him, as Obi-Wan was like an older brother. The clone troopers were his friends. The Jedi and their allies were the family he had been looking for, and Padmé…

He sighs, looking back to the bedroom where Padmé lies asleep, dark curls spreading over the pillows like untamed oceans, lips parted and chest rising and falling in the soft rhythm of sleep. Padmé was something else entirely. She would make Anakin feel simultaneously strong and weak and made him see the world with new eyes. The glittering stars outside would have a different light, force inside him would feel warm and reassuring, and his path – the right path – would be crystal clear in front of his eyes.

What was the right path? Most certainly it was the Jedis'. So had said Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Master Yoda, and so many of his comrades and allies, and Anakin was sure of that.

Until the nightmares had grown unbearable and he started to search desperately for answers, for a way to keep Padmé unharmed, safe and sound. He wouldn’t be able to stand losing her, the mere thought gave him a cold sweat and a knot in his guts. There must be something that could be done, something, anything…

_A knowledge from the dark side, that could even keep the ones he cared about from dying._

Palpatine’s words are still ringing in Anakin’s ears as if they’ve just had been spoken. He holds his head in his hands, gritting his teeth. If that was the only way… If there was no other way… What did the jedi know anyway? They were a group of former peacekeepers who now fought wars knee-deep in their enemies blood. If there was a path of peace, wouldn’t they have reached it by now? If it was possible to unite the galaxy with kindness and understanding, why did they resort to war, to lightsabers and blasters, battleships and clone armies?

Both sides just wanted to be on full control of the galaxy, for their own fulfillment. Padmé’s dream of democracy was out of reach, and as long as there was a dark and a light side, there would be war. He couldn’t bear the thought of letting his child be born in a world defiled by hatred and conflict. One side needed to win and completely annihilate the other one, in order to prevent a new uprising and any subsequent revolutions. It needed to be quick.

_Kill him. Do it._

How many lives had he spared by killing count Dooku? The man was a murderer and a strategist who had plotted several deadly attacks on the republic and the Jedi.

 _He was unarmed,_ says a little voice in his head, _surrendered._

 _Yes, says a louder,_ more eloquent voice _, but he would kill again. That’s just who he was._

 _This is not how the jedi code works_ , turns the little voice _, this is not what Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan taught me._

 _And what happened to Qui-Gon?_ , the other voice booms even louder now, _what had his path of peace led him to? A gruesome death at the hands of a sith! The only way to end this is through ruthlessness, the brutal way of the sith. Leaving no survivors, crushing your enemies, this is the only way to end this war once and for all!_

The smaller voice is just about a whisper now:

_But can I betray the Jedi? Their code? Everything they taught me? Can I become the very thing I sought to destroy?_

Anakin walks back into the bedroom, looking at Padmé. She opens her eyes, still dazed from her sleep and her lips curl into a soft smile. Her words are slurred and Anakin is pretty sure it’s the most lovely sound he’d ever heard, but then again, that’s what he thinks every time she speaks.

“Come back to bed, my love.”

Anakin can feel her smile burning in his soul, scorching away the last ounce of doubt he could possibly have.

* * *

 

 _It’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be._ Mace Windu is a fellow Jedi. He is one of his brothers in arms. He is his friend. But he is fighting their alleged enemy with the same violence the Sith resort to. Doesn’t this make the Jedi just as corrupt as the Sith? If both parties use the same methods, then why would one more righteous than the other?

“The Jedi are taking over. You must choose.” Palpatine’s words are harsh and undeniably true.

“The oppression of the Sith will never return!” says Windu and there is fear in his voice; what had he witnessed? What had he seen before? Were the Sith so terrible? But then again, weren’t the Jedi too?

Palpatine assures Anakin that he can save Padmé. Padmé of the shining smile, of the kind words, of the warm touch. His Padmé. The thought of protecting Padmé seems to wrap Anakin’s brain in a daze, but he holds to reason still and demands a trial. Windu refuses, and the blue gleam of the lightining flowing from Palpatine’s hands reflects on Anakin’s eyes, flashing on Windu’s pained face.  Palpatine is wrinkled and gasping, begging for his life as his lightning subsides. Mace’s posture makes him think of Darth Maul and General Grievous and so many other Sith soldiers who would kill on sight, not minding codes or honor. What really differs the Jedi from them?

“I need him!” the words come out like begging, because Anakin does beg, he doesn’t wish to be forced to take action, he doesn’t want to bring this horrifying situation to a point that's even worse.

_Don’t try to kill him. Don’t force me to do this._

But Windu raises his lightsaber, purple light moving in an elegant yet deadly arc. Anakin switches on his own lightsaber, drawing an upward strike at the Jedi’s wrist. There’s a pained scream of Windu’s, his lightsaber flies off the broken window, and all else seems to happen in a split second. Palpatine’s lightning stronger than ever, the smell of burning flesh, the sight of Windu’s bones flashing under his skin, his screams dying away as he falls out of the window to his certain death.

Everything is blurry, and Anakin realizes it’s because of the tears welling up in his eyes. He stumbles back, speaking before he can even realize it, tripping on the corner of step behind him and falling down on it. The cold wind makes the tears spilling down his face feel like ice against his skin.

“What have I done?!...”

The lightsaber falls from his trembling fingers. His breathing is labored, and the air doesn’t seem to be enough no matter how hard he breathes. He is dizzy and it feels like his soul is rattling in his body as much as his heart in his chest. It’s almost as if something inside him is in the verge of breaking into a million pieces, un-mendable, unfixable.

It’s his path, his fate, his destiny, Palpatine guarantees it. All he must do is learn the ways of the dark side of the force. Anakin feels like a child all over again, like his own nine-year-old self, trapped wherever fate led him, unable to choose, to make things right, to protect the one he loves. His chest feels so heavy it’s like he’ll never be able to lift its weight again.

Protecting the one he loves. That seems to be the only thing clear in his mind now.

“I’ll do whatever you ask. Just help me save Padmé’s life. I can’t live without her”

_I can’t, I can’t, I won’t, please, all I want is her safe, everything else can burn._

Before he can think he gets up to then drop to his knees, looking up to Palpatine. His now wrinkled and deformed self is abhorrent, but Anakin can sense the Force within him as he looks at his yellow eyes in awe. This power… If he achieve it, he can save Padmé.

“I pledge myself to your teachings.”

Whatever it was that had felt like breaking inside him now seems to be shattered beyond repair. The force is strong with him, Palpatine guarantees it, and a powerful Sith he will become.

His face burns with shame. Sith. He's turned to them, and there was no way back now. The moment in which he finally earned his Jedi title and smiled at Obi-Wan flashed through his mind, and the day he accepted Ahsoka as his apprentice, his own Padawan, followed it; Qui-Gon’s friendship and his sacrifice, the clone trooper’s companionship and the many battles they fought side by side; His honor, his code, his pride… all was burned to ashes.

Palpatine gives him the title of Darth Vader, and Anakin bows his head in acceptance.

“Thank you, my master.”

_No no no no this was wrong wrong wrong, Obi-Wan was his master, General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had practically raised him like an older brother would, had taught him everything he knows, laughed about his silly jokes, fought along his side, saved his life so many times…_

But his choice was made. This was his path now. He wouldn’t have to choose anymore. He would have everything. Padmé, power, and peace for the entire galaxy. And, for once, he could slay those standing in his way instead of hiding behind the Jedi’s false morality. Anakin, now the Sith Lord Darth Vader takes his orders and walks out of the room with wide strides. His ears are still ringing, his limbs feel heavy and his heart still hammers in his chest as if it wants to break his sternum from the inside. Anakin wondered if his eyes were now of the hateful yellow of the Sith, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise his face to the windows down the hallway. Instead, he picked up his pace, defining the strategy in his mind. His path ahead is clear, but it seems to scorch him to the bones with every step he takes.

The lightsaber on his belt had never felt so heavy.

* * *

 

The coup was well planned, he has to admit it. Darth Vader stands in front of the clone troopers, issuing his orders. He was a general after all, and they owed him obedience. And this was not any troop – these were the men of the 501st legion. Vader knew each and every clone in this battalion, and they had never failed to make him proud.

“The Jedi are trying to take over the republic! It’s our duty to stop them! Use deadly force and take no prisoners!"

“Yes, sir!” Appo answers promptly in unison with his team.

Vader doesn’t fail to notice the absence of captain Rex. What would be the missing of an old friend becomes a mere irritation at the thought of not having one of his best men to fight in what could be the most dangerous battle Vader has ever faced. But the rage burns in his chest like a furnace, and Vader feels capable of any monstrosity in order to achieve his full power.

Feed the force within you with your hatred, my apprentice. Relish in it.

He sees the recognition in the faces of the men and women dressed in white robes and brown cloaks in the main entrance halls. They think of him as a friend, the young Jedi Skywalker. But as they see the armed clone troops marching out of the ship behind him and Vader ignites his lightsaber, he can sense the fear striking their hearts and he relishes in it. No one runs or screams, for the shock of an open attack at the Jedi temple is far too much for any of them to bear.

_The Jedi have feared me for so long, and now I shall give reason to their fear._

He does not hesitate before jumping ahead, spinning in the air to then strike a blow to the old Jedi on the bridge. The weapon’s sound seems to echo in the air for an instant as it cuts through him, slicing him open. Time seems to slow down, the sound of the dead Jedi’s body hitting the ground is loud as a cannon blaster in the cristaline silence.

Then the screaming begins, followed by the clone troopers’ heavy gunfire. The bodies fall, the screams cut the air. None of them expected an attack at the Jedi temple. Most of them is unequipped, for this is a place of rest and learning, and no battle would ever be expected to take place within these walls. Vader can almost smell their fear. They all know that none of them can defeat him, but that doesn’t stop the Jedi from trying to assemble their counter measures. As the battalion advances, so do the bravest of their Jedi, deflecting the blaster fire with their lightsabers. Two clone troopers are hit with the backlash fire and collapse lifeless to the ground, but Vader does not mourn them. He does not look back or think whether these two troopers were Fox or Appo or any of his other friends. They are no longer his friends, but his tools. His Fist.

The killing was easy. Effortless. Vader’s lightsaber would swing with uncommon mastery, piercing through hearts and slashing through torsos, his Force lifting Jedi off the ground and crushing their windpipes. But the pain searing through his chest remains, and Vader strides carelessly in the middle of deflected gunfire almost as if he expects a stray red blast to strike him and end it all. The screams and shooting are deafening. The Jedi surround him, swinging their lighsabers, and he strikes them one by one, moving his feet skillfully, pushing two of them away with a blow of his Force. Vader’s blood feels hot in his veins, the labored breathing of the battle clouding his feelings away. They are targets. Enemies. And they are walking unaware that they are already dead.

A young Jedi with short dark hair and angry black eyes runs towards him screaming, her blue lightsaber firm in her grip. She wears a padawan braid, and tears are running down her face. The man whose upper torso - split from his lower half - lies down Vader’s feet had been her master. He can see the pain in her eyes, the same pain Obi-Wan had when he came back from his duel with Darth Maul without Qui-Gon. The pain of loss.

The pain of loss would no longer exist in the peaceful Empire he would bring to existence.

Vader pulls the girl towards himself with ease, and the tips of her feet are dragging on the floor as the Force brings her towards Vader, too fast, unstoppable. Vader raises his lightsaber, pulling the padawan towards its blade and running her through. The girl gasps, and her eyes are wide in shock. Vader can see the reflection of his own yellow eyes on her irises before he pulls the weapon out of her, letting the padawan collapse by her master’s side.

_They lied to the padawans. They lied to everyone. They called themselves peacekeepers while they trained children to be soldiers._

_No more._

Vader keeps walking, slaying every Jedi in his path, aided by the clone troopers. He knows his way around. He had visited this walls for so long, had spent so many nights in there, he could walk with his eyes closed if he wished to. Obi-Wan used to take him everywhere, teach him of little hidden places in which they could speak privately, discuss their moral questions, their disregard for certain rules. Obi-Wan complained of his recklessness during the clone wars, but he should know whom he had learned it from. Both of them were tired of waiting for peace to land on their hands on its own. The only difference is that Vader has decided to act on his wish for peace and happiness for his loved ones, while Obi-Wan has remained faithful to the Jedis’ self-righteousness. He would see, he hopes. Obi-Wan would see the truth and would join him, he was sure.

Vader takes the turn right, his feet moving quickly, his steps echoing through the walls. The battle is intense everywhere as the clone troopers advance inside, pressing their blasters to the wounded survivors on the floor and pulling their triggers. After slaughtering every single Jedi on his path, Vader takes the final steps into the high council chamber, expecting to find the last of the strongest Jedi. The chaos and gunfire from the battle seems to die away under the ringing in his ears as he sees the children cowering behind the red chairs. A very young boy with blond hair and puffy cheeks stumbles to him while his brethren look at Vader in a mix of fear and relief. Everyone knows that Anakin Skywalker is one of the strongest Jedi in the Order, and for the first time, Vader feels that he is in fact a Sith wearing the face of a Jedi like a mask, and that maybe this is what he had been all along.

“Master Skywalker” the fear in the boy’s voice can be felt in his force that remains small, quivering around his body like a frightened animal “There are too many of them! What are we going to do?”

Vader blinks slowly, drawing a breath. They are beyond salvation. Brainwashed and wired to believe only in the Jedi codes and their lies. They will be better off dead then on some cruel prison camp living in forced labor. The Anakin in his past had learned all there was to know about how painful is the life of a slave.

When he powers his lightsaber, the boy stumbles back wide-eyed, finally noticing the yellow storm in Vader’s eyes.

 

Vader joins his soldiers shortly afterwards, pretending not to feel the knot in his guts that clashed with the sense of accomplishment that nested in his chest. He was carrying out his orders, working towards a path of peace. What was in slaughtering these false peacekeepers that was any more immoral than killing a man like Dooku? His duties as a Jedi only differ from his duties as a Sith when it comes to whom he would be slaying. Both parties were trying to reach their goals, but only one of them could give him the tools for saving Padmé. It isn’t such a terrible thing to do when he puts it that way, so he somehow manages to stop thinking and goes back to swinging his lightsaber with strength and elegance across the jedi who were still standing, using the Force in his favor and piercing through each and every Jedi in his path.

If this was the price for having peace through the entire galaxy and saving Padmé’s life, he was happy to pay it.


	3. Following Orders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin flies to Mustafar in order to kill the separatists while Yoda and Obi-Wan try to piece together what happened at the Jedi temple. General Grievous survived the duel with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka sees herself with an old friend and an old enemy, having escaped from the war in Mandalore.

Palpatine, or as he would soon begin to call himself, Lord Sidious had ordered Vader to go to Mustafar in order to slay the separatists and take the final strides towards their righteous freedom and peace. An empire of his own, where no one would have to suffer in pain anymore. They were close to achieving it once and for all.

Appo waits for Darth Vader on the hangar. His helmet is off and there is a thick lightsaber burn on the chest piece of his armor. He is surrounded by a group of fellow troopers who lie dead on the ground, but seems to be unable to tear his eyes away from the dead padawan next to them; the boy’s clothes have been burned by the multiple blaster shots that had hit him in the chest, and his lightsaber lies on the hangar close to his hand. He had tried to fight. He did not seem to be older than thirteen and he tried to fight a decorated clone trooper and his unit all alone, brave to the very end. Vader walks to Appo without looking down to the boy. The temple is silent now, and his steps echo in the wide space.

“Is it over?” asks the commander, and his voice is shaking just so slightly

“It’s only beginning.” replies Vader dryly “But with our relentlessness it shall be over soon. And every traitor shall be dealt with.”

Appo nods as he clutches his stomach, still looking at the padawan. Sidius’ Order 66 was seared deep into the clone’s brains, but that didn’t stop them from recognizing the horrors in their deeds - It just had made them unable to not perform them.

“The temple is secured.” Appo assures him, swallowing hard “Has the message been sent, sir?”

Vader nods.

“All the remaining Jedi will come to the temple in order to aid their comrades. You and your men must stand your ground and get rid of each and every one of them. Leave no survivors.”

Appo finally looks at Vader, nodding back. His dark eyes are attentive and he gestures to his earpiece.

“I've received a report from Cody. They opened fire on Yoda and the Wookie troops, but Yoda has escaped with a few of their soldiers.”

Vader grinds his teeth. Yoda could be a threat if he managed to gather a resistance army. He was one powerful Jedi, if not the most powerful, and he could make himself very difficult to find. They needed to get rid of him, and of any other Jedi as fast as possible. Appo, however, keeps feeding Vader his reports:

“Cody also told me they shot General Kenobi down. They couldn’t recover the body, but he was last seen falling in the river after receiving a direct hit from a cannon blaster.”

Vader knits his brows, almost smiling to himself.

“Obi-Wan wouldn’t be killed by a handful of soldiers with blasters. Make sure your men keep looking for him, and try to capture him alive. If he resists…” Vader rise his eyes to meet Appo’s “Kill him. He’s too powerful. Too dangerous.”

Appo nods as Vader walks to his ship:

“Sir. The troops have tried to find Tano as you’ve ordered, but she must have gone into hiding, for she’s nowhere to be found.”

Vader doesn’t stop taking his steps into the ship, nor does he look back to his commander.

“Find her and bring her to me. Ahsoka is too naïve, and they’ve filled her head with lies for long enough. We must bring her to our side. Use the tools I have provided your men with and be careful. She won’t go down easily.”

_I have taught her not to, after all._

Appo nods once again.

“Should I gather an unit and join you in your mission?”

“No. This will be an easy task and I need every men handling the Jedi flying into the temple. Order your men to keep their eyes open and not to underestimate them, not even the padawans. I will not tolerate any failures, commander.”

“There will be no survivors, lord Vader.”

“Good.”

 

* * *

 

Vader doesn’t have time to get lost in thought on his way to Mustafar. The force inside him had never felt so hot, so intense. Was this only part of the full potential he could achieve using the dark side? How much could he have grown throughout the years, had the Jedi not hold him back? Maybe this is what really scared them after all, the thought of a young Jedi reaching power levels unimaginable even for their strongest soldiers like Yoda or Qui-Gon. All their training and effort trampled by Anakin Skywalker’s raw, absolute power. They were jealous of him, as much as they were afraid.

Vader licks his lips. They were right to fear him. Had he known of his true power before, he would’ve overthrown the Council and their weakness long ago.

The force swirls in his mind on colorful light patterns he’d never seen before. During his padawan years, and even later as a Jedi, whenever he tried to look inside, he would see a cold blue light that seemed to envelop him, pale and trembling as if it was too feeble to hold for long. The light is bright like blaster fire now, in shades of red and gold and it is warm like a lover’s embrace.

It runs free on him, _in_ him, and Vader feels its raw power filling his heart. There isn’t anything he can’t do. There will be none standing on his way, and if there is, he will destroy them.

 

Mustafar is a a small volcanic planet located between two gas giants in the Outer Rim Territory, and the heated wind wraps itself around Vader. It’s stifling and even the air filling his lungs is hot. The corpses litter the Separatist headquarters and now, as his rage subsides and the heat of the assassination is gone, Vader feels his heart clenching in his chest. He looks out of the balcony, at the gleaming lava and the dark clouded sky, and something cold on his face contrasts with the hot atmosphere.

Vader cries.

He is no longer Anakin, is he? He can’t be, not anymore, never again. He's made the choice and acted on it. The padawans’ screams ring on his ears still. They begged for their lives when they saw him strike down the first of them, and a very young togruta girl screamed when Vader squeezed her throat with the force. He tried to make it quick. He tried to abbreviate their suffering. He had done the same to the separatists, his attack was ruthless and fast. He had made it as clean as it could have been.

“As clean…?” he whispers, looking down at his own hands

There is no blood on them. Lightsabers burn as they cut, and they don’t leave the evidence of the violence they can bring. But he knows of it. He knows of his deeds, even if nobody else does, and they will haunt him forever, _unless…_

He looks up tho the yellow moon on the horizon. _Unless_ he accepts it as the path to everlasting peace. He won’t have it, he won’t bask in the light of this peace, but his unborn son… This marvelous new era will be his.

And it’s worth it.

* * *

 

_“—Plo Koon is down—”_

_“Ahsoka Tano remains missing—”_

_“—are taken care of, moving onto the next camp—”_

_“Secura eliminated successfully—"_

Cody pries his helmet out of his head breathing hard and fast as his eyes dart through the field. It’s done. All the enemies are down. The traitors have been dealt with. His part of the task is done – for now.

The report feeds keep coming in the communication line in his ear, every name making his heart skip a beat, and the trooper can’t understand why.

_They’re traitors of the Republic and must be eliminated… But how could they be… No…._

Nothing makes much sense in his head now. He feels accomplished and ashamed, brave and a coward, a hero and a pariah. He puts his helmet back on, hearing  commander Appo’s voice in the line:

“—I repeat, search for Obi-Wan Kenobi and bring him back to lord Vader dead or alive. These are his direct orders.”

Cody gestures to his men towards the river. Kenobi was most likely dead, but if their master wanted a corpse or a prisoner, he would have it.

_I must not disappoint General Skywalker—Lord Vader—my friend—my master—Jedi—Sith—_

The informations overlap in his brain, and he blinks for a moment, his head spinning and nausea setting in his guts.

“Find Kenobi!” he bellows “Dead or alive!”

_Follow your orders. This is all that matters._

“Commander Cody!” screams a fellow trooper from the upper bridge “General Grievous is still alive!”

A holovid is projected from Cody’s arm piece, and he sees the Sith Lord on the ground, coughing loudly and clawing his fingers on the floor. His external armor is scorched, and a puddle of a rich dark fluid oozes under his metallic body.

“He’s not one of the Republic’s traitors.” says Cody as his men search the rivers for general Kenobi, and the words flow from his lips as a long-known truth “Patch him up, notify the high commands!”

“Yessir!”

The search for Obi-Wan Kenobi is still going, but no corpse is found.

* * *

 

Obi-Wan is alive after all, and he had managed to meet with Master Yoda at the jedi temple, slaughtering the clones on their way. The force inside him helps him keep his balance as he swings his lightsaber, slashing through their chests and necks. Yoda jumps and flips through the air effortlessly, slaying the enemies one by one. Only a single clone trooper remains, and Obi-Wan deflects the blaster fire intended at him with his lightsaber.

“Stand down!” he demands as he walks towards the trooper, deflecting each shot with his blade.

The trooper does not oblige, firing rapidly, standing his ground. He’s alone. He should know better. Why won’t he listen?

“Stand down!” Obi-Wan bellows, and Yoda powers down his lightsaber as Obi-Wan advances towards the clone, deflecting his gunfire “Stand! Down!”

When Obi-Wan gets close enough, he runs the trooper through, hearing his soft gasp before he collapses on the ground. Obi-Wan powers down his own lightsaber and kneels by the trooper, holding his helmet and pulling it off of him. All clone troopers had the same face, but he could recognize the tattoo on his neck. This was Page, the youngest clone in the 501st unit. He was a good man, a little too eager to please his superiors, big fan of reading, which eventually ended up giving his nickname. He used to blush heavily whenever Obi-Wan or Anakin would speak to him and worshipped the Jedi and their quest for peace. Why would he, or any other of the many clone soldiers who had fought alongside the jedi suddenly turn against them? It made no sense.

Obi-Wan closes the clone’s eyes, confusion and grief reflected on his own.

“Inside, we must go.” says Yoda as he walks away “Provide aid, we must.”

Obi-Wan stumbles to his feet, listening to the eerie silence. The place feels hollow. Empty. Where had the glimmer of the Force within the temple been gone to? As he catches up with Yoda, he sees the corpses littering the floor and his stomach churns. He knows some of those jedi. He knows their names, their favorite spots for meditating, details about their lives. He knows who they were, and it hurts him so much. He looks for any sign of survivors amongst them but the soldiers had been ruthless on them all.

Yoda is walking still, the sound of his wooden cane echoing through the halls. As the two of them reach deeper in the main hall, Obi-Wan’s eyes grow wide in shock when he sees the young children collapsed on the floor. His mouth moves in half-words until he finally speaks in a very quiet voice.

“Not even the younglings survived.”

He clamps his mouth shut. He’s going to be sick. He used to watch them playing between their training sessions, too young and innocent, just like Anakin used to be when Qui-Gon and himself had taken the boy in. The young boy who lies closer to them used to ask him all sort of questions whenever he would be around. _“Will I ever be a jedi as good as you are, master Kenobi?”, “I can’t wait for my fencing lessons, how do you make a lightsaber?”, “Is it true you’ve fought General Grievous with master Skywalker, sir?”_

_Who would do such a thing? Force, who would kill unarmed children?_

“Killed not by clones, this padawan.” says Yoda, shaking his head “By lightsaber he was.”

Despite not wishing to, despite the fact that he just wanted to turn his back to all this and walk away from this room, Obi-Wan kneels, checking the child’s wound. A deep, horizontal burn crosses his chest in the way he knows far too well, a lightsaber wound. The position of the blow reminds him of a fighting style he also knows, and for some reason his mind goes to Qui-Gon and the techniques he had passed down to Obi-Wan as his master, and it disgusts him. Someone like his master could never… No Jedi could ever… He has to be wrong, has to be mistaken… _No Jedi did this._ He can’t believe it, refuses to.

“Who? Who would’ve done this?”

Yoda doesn’t answer, and Obi-Wan feels that he knows. Even so, he doesn’t dare to ask again. Instead, he walks to the communications room in order to reset the signal, his mind efficiently finding a task to keep itself busy. A traitor Jedi… it’s far too much for him to think. Certainly a clone trooper had picked up a fallen lightsaber and used it, it wasn’t impossible. But then again, why had the clones turned against them? _Nothing makes any sense, he is surrounded by the corpses of his clone comrades and his jedi friends_ and the air feels short in his lungs, his legs give way for a moment—

“Move, you must.” croaks Yoda, giving him a painful poke on his back with his wooden cane “Thinking, you must stop. Move.”

Obi-Wan does. When he gets to the communications room, his hands work on their own, detached from his mind that keeps spinning in circles. _Plo Koon could never… Much less Windu… Or Ahsoka… Don’t be stupid. None of them could do it, none of them was capable of such a horrible thing. But who did it, then?!_

His work is done and the signal has been reversed. Yoda advises him to leave, and he walks beside his fellow Jedi until he sees the security feeds and an idea takes his mind suddenly as he walks to the machines. I must know, I must know…

“Wait, master. There’s something I must know.”

“If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.”

Yoda's words don't hold him back. Nothing would.

“I must know the truth, master.” replies Obi-Wan, not knowing exactly how he manages to not scream it.

The security feed comes up on the holo-projector, showing the once calm temple where the jedi masters and their apprentices would be walking and sharing their conversations. Obi-Wan turns the knob, accelerating the images until… _there!_ He recognizes the blue light and the brown robes… it _had been_ a jedi, but Obi-Wan doesn’t really recognize him until he spins around and his hood falls back, revealing light brown curls and a distinguishing scar.

Anakin.

_Anakin!_

"It can’t be. It can’t be!...”

Obi-Wan recognizes his stance, a mix of his own fighting style, passed on to Obi-Wan himself by Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin’s own reckless yet efficient moves. It’s his padawan. His friend. It’s Anakin there, slaying Jedi and unarmed _children_ and kneeling down to… Chancellor Palpatine. He’s the Sith Emperor. He calls Anakin “Lord Vader” and it makes Obi-Wan so sick he stops the recording, disregarding any valuable intel it might have. Yoda says they must stop the Sith threat and he nods, biting the inside of his cheek so hard he can taste his own blood.

“Send me to kill the emperor.” He wants it, _needs it,_ he wants to split this wretched man in half like he did Darth Maul; this horrid monster who turned someone good and pure into a mass murderer controlled by darkness had to _die._ “I will not kill Anakin.”

“Strong enough, you are not. Face the Emperor, I will.”

“He’s like my brother.” once again Obi-Wan don’t know how he manages not to scream “I cannot do it.”

“Twisted by the dark side the young Skywalker has become; The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader.”

Obi-Wan clamps his lips shut because he feels like he will throw up or scream or both. Yoda turns his back on him, and Obi-Wan doesn’t know if his old friend will come back alive from a fight against the Sith Emperor himself. In the span of a day he’d lost so many friends he cannot feel more than a hollow sensation in his chest, and as much as it hurts to see them collapsed on the ground, the one friend whose loss hurts the most is the one who is still alive.

Anakin has fallen to the dark side. Obi-Wan realizes that he had failed Qui-Gon, he failed Anakin himself, and he failed Padmé too.

Padmé.

_She’ll know where I can find him._

* * *

 

It’s cold. Ahsoka Tano can barely feel her limbs and a familiar voice speaks far from her, as if whoever is speaking had their back turned to her as they snarled.

“--Will not repeat myself, back off!”

That was Rex’s voice. Commander Rex from the 501st. Ahsoka tried to open her eyes, but she was so tired and her body hurt all over. Rex speaks again, and his tone was aggressive.

“I will kill you if I have to!”

Another voice came, and it makes a shiver run down Ahsoka’s spine. It’s a silky, cold voice that she’s heard before.

“Put your blaster down, clone. This is not a proper way to thank the one who saved your life.”

Ahsoka hears the sound of a lightsaber being powered on and snaps her eyes open. Her blurred sight only lets her see the red gleaming of a dual-bladed lightsaber. She blinks, and Rex’s back in front of her comes into focus, as does Darth Maul, holding his lightsaber in front of himself defensively. Ahsoka supports herself in her arms, rising her upper body off the ground. She seems to be in a cave, and the only sources of light are Maul’s lightsaber and Rex’s flashlight that shines on Maul’s yellow eyes as they dart to her.

“Oh, would you look at that. Your precious little jedi is awake at last.”

Rex looks over his shoulder while pointing his blaster at Maul, and he double-takes to smile at her for a moment.

“Hey, Ahsoka. Glad to see you up.”

Ahsoka discreetly reaches for the lightsabers on her waist as she sits up. Her eyes are fixated on Maul.

“What is going on, commander?”

It is Maul who answers instead.

“The whole city went to chaos. I was kind enough to drag your useless body down here along your clone friend…”

“You wanted to have hostages!” cuts Rex sharply “The only reason I followed you is because it was far too dangerous to try and cover for Ahsoka after she exhausted herself”

Ahsoka head hurt. He was right, when the clones started firing at the Jedi she fought as hard as she could, but she knew they were outnumbered. She used the Force to push both Rex and Maul down a cliff to escape enemy gunfire, and threw herself after them collapsing with exhaustion after blocking the cave entrance with a boulder using the Force. Ahsoka takes out her lightsabers, getting on her feet and powering them on. She is looking at both Rex and Maul.

“What happened with the clones, Rex? Why did they attack the Jedi?”

Rex still pays attention at Maul, but his face is pained.

“The inhibitor chips. The Sith caused this.”

Ahsoka turns to Maul, her lightsaber pointed at him.

“The Sith?”

“Do not accuse others of the fate you brought upon yourselves, Jedi.” says Maul with a sneer “I have nothing to do with this. My former master left me in this planet to rot. I have nothing to do with the treacherous deeds of your soldiers.”

Maul hesitates before he powers off his lightsaber, hanging it on his belt. Ahsoka looks at him for a few instants before she powers her own sabers off, nodding at Rex. Rex looks at Maul and frowns.

“If I as much as _think_ that you’re meaning to…”

“Don’t offend me with your hollow threats.” Maul cuts him off as he sits down and crosses his arms in front of his chest “We are stuck here for now, until the clones finish killing the others up there.”

Rex clenches his jaw, and Ahsoka looks around intently, grabbing Rex’s flashlight and searching for a way out of the cave.

“We need to help them!”

Maul doesn’t move, but he gives a small pleased smile.

“You are outnumbered, Jedi. The two of you will die.”

“Don’t try and stop us!”

“Stop you? By all means, _throw yourself on blaster fire_ for all I care. The last I heard, togrutas can endure pain relatively well. Maybe you’ll be able to kill five or six of them before you collapse on the ground and they shoot you until you become not more than a bloody puddle.” Rex reaches for his gun but Maul’s hand is already over his lightsaber “Your clone friend here will agree with me, if there is any sense in him.”

Ahsoka shines the flashlight on Rex’s face, and he knits his brows, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, Ahsoka, we can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

Ahsoka opens her mouth to then shut it. She knows he’s right. They don’t stand a chance. The safest thing to do is wait for a better moment to flee. Ahsoka walks back to Rex, across from Maul and away from him.

“So we’re stuck with metal-legs here?”

Maul scoffs, his face twisted in intense disgust.

“I’m not pleased to be trapped in a cave with a clone of the republic and a feeble Jedi, you can rest assured.”

Ahsoka turns to talk to Rex as if Maul was not there, covering her mouth with her hand and lowering her voice to a very soft whisper.

“Don't you think he might try to kill us in our sleep?”

Rex looks at Maul for an instant before he covers his own mouth and whispers back:

“Let’s hope things get better up there before we need sleep.” with that, he excuses himself and walks towards one of the deeper ends of the cave. Ahsoka calls his name, but he waves a hand “What I’ve seen up there… I need time to think.”

Ahsoka nods and hears Maul’s voice behind her.

“Your friend is a fool to think he ever had a hold of his fate. None of you do.” She turns to Maul and sees that his eyes are closed and his hands are crossed over his lap; the position reminds her of when Obi-Wan would meditate, but his Force is not soft and gentle like Obi-Wan's, not even close. “And I will not kill you in your sleep, Jedi. I don’t enjoy hunting easy prey.”

Ahsoka frowns at him to then flinch. The dark Force within Maul is almost palpable. It feels vile and engulfing, and the only thing shielding her is the pale blue light of her own Force surrounding her. Maul’s lips curl in an evil smile.

“Haven’t you ever craved such power?”

Ahsoka shivers, taking a step back, and her voice is dripping with disgust.

“At the cost of becoming a monstrosity like you?”

Maul smile fades away.

“I shall take this as a compliment, child.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where we'll diverge from canon. From this chapter own, the fic will take a completely diferent path from the canon source. In other words, this is my sandbox now! Thanks for the comments and stay tuned.


	4. A Jedi, A Sith and A Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé confronts Vader and Obi-wan faces a duel against his former apprentice. The fate of the galaxy lies in this duel's outcome.

Vader had informed the Chancelor of his deeds, and he had assured him once again that although is actions might feel like a burden in his heart, they had paved the path for peace and justice to the galaxy.

The tightening feeling in his chest eases at these words, and Vader draws a breath, feeling the Force running free in his body, unrestrained, all-powerful. He sees the greed in Sidius’ eyes and acknowledges it. His master may have led him to victory, but he is not suited for the place of Emperor. Vader plots his own plans now, thinking of nothing but Padmé and his son. He is willing to do whatever it takes for them.

A screen beeps behind him, and Vader turns to see that a small ship is landing at the hangar. He recognizes the Coruscant ship just from a quick look at it – _Padmé?_

Vader walks out to the bridge, pulling his hood down and racing to the hangar. The ramp in the ship goes down and there she is, Padmé, like a beacon of light on this wretched, dark planet as lava crashes against the structures, sizzling, and thick smog fills the air. Vader takes the final steps to his wife, holding her in a tight embrace. Padmé should be home, safe, waiting for his return, not out here in this hellish place.

“I saw your ship.” Vader lets go of Padmé, looking into her eyes “What are you doing out here?”

Padmé looks scared and pained. _She is far into the end of her pregnancy_ , thinks Vader in anguish, _she shouldn’t be running around like this._

“I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things.”

Obi-Wan was alive, then. Vader did not know if he should take the news with pleasure or wariness.

“What things?”

“He said that you turned to the dark side.” Padmé swallows hard, hesitating “That you… killed younglings.”

 _No_. Padmé wasn’t supposed to know, not like this. It sounds horrible said like that, vicious. But he knows better, he knows he did what was necessary. Padmé’s face is twisted in disgust and disbelief, and Vader decides to use that, at least until she can fully understand.

“Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me.”

Padmé shakes her head.

“He cares about us.”

Vader hesitates.

“’Us’?”

“He knows.” says Padmé reassuringly “He wants to help you.”

Vader smiles, thinking of Obi-Wan, of how much he likes his former master and how he wishes to have him by his side too. Obi-Wan understands their love, then. Understands that the Jedi codes are nothing but false morality. Good.

“Anakin,” says Padmé kindly “all I want is your love.”

He doesn’t feel connected to his old name anymore. When Padmé says it, it sounds like she’s talking to somebody else. A dead person whose death she hasn’t been notified of. Love. Democracy. _Padmé is still too innocent for her own good._

“Love won’t save you, Padmé. Only my new powers can do that.”

“At what cost? You’re a good person, don’t do this!”

 _She doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know. Her life is worth more than me being a good person_.

“I won’t lose you the way I lost my mother.” the mere thought of it hurts Vader “I’m becoming more powerful than any jedi has ever dreamed of, and I’m doing it for you. To protect you.”

Padmé sounds urgent now, scared even. Her hands are gripping on Vader’s cloaked shoulders, going up to cup his face, caressing his hair.

“Come with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind _while we still can!”_

Vader shakes his head, smiling now. Sidius was right. The dark side did set him free.

“Don’t you see? We don’t have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I--”, he hesitates for a second “I can overthrow him.” Padmé’s eyes grow wide and she takes a step back, but Vader goes on “And together, we can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be!”

Padmé’s breathing is labored as pain spreads through her face.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Obi-Wan was right. You _changed_. Anakin, please, give up on all this, there’s still time, we can still go back and fix this. Come with me, please!”

Vader takes a step towards Padmé and she flinches. He knits his brows, his hand stopping in the middle of the gesture as he reached for her.

“Padmé. You think I’m doing this for power?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know you anymore!” Padmé shakes her head “I don’t know why you’re contradicting everything we’ve ever agreed to be right!”

“The only reason I’m doing this is for you. And justice, and peace.”

“Peace?! By killing younglings?!”

Padmé’s face is red with her effort to breathe, and Vader sighs. Padmé makes everything sound so wretched, so horrid. Vader takes another step towards her and grabs hold of her arm before she can stumble back away from him.

“By destroying an order that did nothing but wage an endless war that only brought casualties and misery. I know it sounds terrible. It is terrible.” Vader swallows hard “What I did, it was necessary, but this doesn’t make it any less terrible. But Padmé, your fight for democracy has been fruitless all this time. Slavery still exists, poverty, hunger, the black market, war… It’s all there, despite your most well-intentioned efforts! Your duty, _our duty_ , is no more efficient than trying to count all the stars in the universe. It can’t be done, not like this, _slowly and peacefully._ If we take control of the galaxy…” he gazes upon Padmé’s terrified eyes “Nothing bad will ever happen again. The slave trade from the Hutts, we’ll deatroy it. We’ll give free education for each and every children, like you wanted. No-one will ever have to suffer yarning for a decent future. No people dying in hunger again. No planets destroyed by war. Padmé, I know you’re scared now, but if you look at the whole thing, you’ll know that I’m right...!”

“Anakin”, Padmé begs as she tries to break free from his grip “This is not the proper way to get things done!”

“And which is the proper way?!” Vader demands, his voice sounding irritated; Padmé would always try to corner him like this whenever they’d discuss politics “The way of the Senate? And of the previous Senate, your grandmother’s? And of the one that came before that? And it goes on and on and on, and it never, _never_ gets finished! Padmé, I’m giving a solution, a permanent one for all this pain that plagues the universe! No more war, no more sorrow, no more pain! Isn’t this what you want?!”

Padmé raises her eyes to Vader, hesitating to then blink.

“No.” she says, shaking her head with her eyes filled with tears “Obi-Wan said that you…”

“Obi-Wan.” Vader cuts her off, looking up to the ship and finally letting go of Padmé’s arm “I see you’ve brought him here with you. You expected him to kill me, didn’t you?”  
Padmé looks back to the ship, from where Obi-Wan is walking off, undressing of his cloak on his way down.

“No…” she says in a panicked whisper “I didn’t know he was there, you have to believe me!”

Vader raises a hand to Padmé, ordering the force to wrap itself around her neck for a second, but his eyes grow wide in shock at his own actions and Padmé drops to her knees under Vader’s frightened gaze. Vader rushes to her, kneeling down and cupping her face, cooing softly.

“Padmé, Padmé, I’m sorry, forgive me…”

"Just…” Padmé gaps, tears streaming down her face “Please…!”

Vader turns to face Obi-Wan, livid, as he carefully lays her on the hangar before he gets up, back to his feet.

“You won’t turn her against me!”

Obi-Wan looks down to Padmé's fallen, weak self.

“Your lust for power has already done that.”

Vader scoffs and begins to pace very slowly as Obi-Wan mirrors his pace until th two of them stop and Vader gazes at the yellow moon in the horizon.

“I don’t lust for power, Obi-Wan!” he explodes “All I wish for is a safe galaxy for my son to live in! How many years have we been at war?! For how long have we been fighting?!”

“Long enough.” replies Obi-Wan in a low, dry tone that contrasted with Anakin’s loud, angry snarls “ _Too long_. Because the sith will always find their way to corrupt a good Jedi. This is how it happens. Yoda told me so.”

“Yoda?...” Vader turns to face Obi-Wan as he shakes his head “You seem so certain of the system, Obi-Wan. So certain that everything…” he scoffs, and his voice grows louder with every word “What’s your idea? Living you entire life at war? Living your entire life as a soldier?! Never resting, never seeing the end of it?! Most likely _dying_ in battle without ever knowing if it was even worth it?! Is that good enough for you, Obi-Wan?! Because it’s not good enough for me, and _it’s definitely not good enough for my son!”_

Obi-Wan’s face is twisted in an intense display of disgust.

“You speak of hating the war, but you were the one to raid a jedi temple, slaughtered innocent men, women and _children_ …”

“It’s part of my duty!” bellows Vader “It’s part of my duty, eliminating the jedi, getting rid of their threat!”

“Threat?! The Jedi?!” Obi-Wan sounds offended under the sheer disgust in his tone “The Sith are the real threat, it’s always been like that!”

Vader scoffs again as he licks his dried up lips.

“That’s so convenient for you to say. One side will always say the other ones are the monsters.”

“Our side is trying to bring peace! The Sith’s only goal is power!”

“My master said the exact opposite.”

For a moment, the revulsion in Obi-Wan’s features turns into shock and disbelief.

“Your 'master'?…”

Vader shakes his head aggressively.

“Oh, don’t pretend to be surprised, Obi-Wan. For how long did you think it would work? Making me a Jedi, but never fully trusting me.” Vader sounds angry now, but also deeply hurt “Did you think I didn’t notice you and the council, the way you would look at me, I could see the fear in your eyes. You never really trusted me. I’d ask to go on solo missions, and you’d always send a clone trooper watching over me; I’d ask to teach the padawans, you’d say I wasn’t ready; It was _hell_ having you allow me to train Ahsoka, and you still took part of it, still had to be a master of hers too. Why, Obi-Wan? Why?!"

Obi-Wan looks away from Vader, to the yellow moon behind him. It takes him a long time to finally open his mouth, hesitating.

“Yoda… Yoda sensed darkness within you.” he looks back at Vader “And now I see he was right.”

Vader lets out a loud laugh.

“Darkness?!” he barks “Darkness?! The same one I feel in you?”

Obi-Wan’s eyes grow wide.

“What are you…?”

“You speak so much of letting go of any attachments, but I could feel it in you. The way you felt about Qui-Gon, and Ahsoka, and the clones, and everyone else.” Vader pauses, snarling “And Satine! Did you think I wouldn’t notice?! The Force was unbalanced within you when you returned from Mandalore, dancing and glimmering Obi-Wan, just like my own would be when I first kissed Padmé!”

Obi-Wan’s eyes grew so wide now that his irises were mere blue dots in an ocean of white.

“You know nothing of me!” roars Obi-Wan for the first time losing his stern outlook, his veins popping up on his neck and his face going red with an anger that could no longer be hidden “Satine and I, for our own good, we decided not to…!”

“ _You_ decided to!” Vader cut him off, equally angry “Because of the laws somebody wrote, a code you were forced to obey! And you were heartbroken, Obi-Wan, I could see it! In my new Empire, there will be no such restrains! Don’t you see, Obi-Wan?! This is what we needed! If you were by Satine’s side, if you allowed yourself to grow attached, that tragedy never would’ve happened! You would’ve been able to protect her!”

Obi-Wan scoffs aggressively, reaching for his lightsaber and nodding to Padmé’s weak, collapsed form.

“As you did Padmé?”

Vader sees the pain in Obi-Wan’s eyes when he gazes at his own yellow, Sith-like eyes. _He can’t understand – won’t understand_. Vader doesn’t wish to fight him, but he sees that they’ve reached a point I’m which there was no other way out of a duel. Obi-Wan powers his lightsaber at last.

“What you are trying to do is turn the republic into a dictatorship, Anakin. My loyalty lies with the republic, with democracy! Your path is one of destruction, and you must be stopped. I’ll do what I must.”

Vader draws a deep breath, the Force inside him boiling as hot as his own blood.

“You will try.”

Anakin powers his lightsaber and does a backflip, already expecting Obi-Wan’s counter move. His attacks are fast and precise, relentless; Obi-Wan’s defense is quick and sharp, all of his mind working on the effort of detaching himself from who he was fighting. He tried to focus on Vader’s yellow eyes, for he could not bear to look at the face of Anakin, that the Sith Lord still wore.

His feet move fast, and Vader knows that every blow from him reminds the Jedi of their fencing lessons, of the battles they had faced together, of their own training of Ahsoka during the clone wars. There’s a calm on Obi-Wan’s features that doesn’t reach his eyes while he maintains his defensive stance, never attacking.

“The Jedi sent you to do their dirty work, Obi-Wan!” screams Vader while he deals blow after blow on his friend “They sent you here to kill me! They use you as their tool for violence under the guise of peacekeeping! Carry out their order, my old master! Kill me!”

Obi-Wan clenches his jaw, his features now not so detached, not so distant. There’s pain in his gaze, as there is anger. Obi-Wan takes a step forward, drawing a blow that Vader counters with ease.

“They sent me to kill a Sith Lord!”

“They sent you to kill your own apprentice!” Vader’s counter pushes Obi-Wan’s lightsaber upwards, forcing him to stumble back “Because that’s what they do, Obi-Wan, send us off to watch our friends die and ask us to be detached from the violence that we both carry out and from the pain that is inflicted on us!”

“They’ve sent me” screams Obi-Wan back at him as the battle carries them into the Separatists headquarter, where corpses of more of Vader’s victims are littering the floor “Because you and your clone troops have _killed_ any other who could fight you!”

Vader doesn’t hesitate, lifting a hand to Obi-Wan in an attempt to push him away with the Force, but Obi-Wan mirrors his gesture; they remain immobile, their forces balanced, and Vader snarls. He had expected to be more powerful than Obi-Wan now, to be able to outmatch him. The Force builds between the two of them to finally launch them both across the room. Vader is knocked painfully against a wall but gets back to his feet quickly, jumping up on the long negotiation table as Obi-Wan does same from across the room.

Now it’s Obi-Wan to deal heavy, careless blows, as if he only craved for the end of this battle, but Vader knows each and every of his moves, and he counters still, working with his legs and kicking Obi-Wan in the thigh, forcing him to drop down on his back with a pained grunt. Vader swings his lightsaber onto his throat, but Obi-Wan places his own saber in front of his blade, blocking it. Vader reaches for his neck, strangling him; Obi-Wan’s eyes go wide as his face reddens, and he coughs; Vader grabs Obi-Wan’s wrist, forcing his own lightsabers down towards his chin…

A powerful kick to Vader’s ribs paired wit an unexpected blow of the Force sends Vader flying halfway across the room once more and Obi-Wan gets to his knees, still trying to catch his breath. Vader gets up as Obi-Wan advances to him, and the duel resumes out of the room and over a bridge, then on wires that carry out metal scrapes to then finally lead up to the two of them landing on shards of metal that float on a molten lava river. The deadly environment doesn’t stop the battle that rages on.

“I offer peace, Obi-Wan!” Vader shouts as he jumps over Obi-Wan, attacking him on his way to land on another small floating piece of jagged metal “Yet you prefer to fight and kill, for this is all the Jedi have ever taught you!”

Obi-Wan manages to duck away from the lightsaber blade, screaming back:

“Killing is the Jedi’s last resort, Anakin! Is what we have to do when we face ruthless killers like the one you have become!”

Vader notices as Obi-Wan sees a shore of black, scorched sand and effortlessly jumps to it, out of the deadly lava. Vader calculates his own movements, a jump that can also be a final strike to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan recognizes his stance.

“It’s over, Anakin! I have the high ground!”

Vader scoffs, still readying himself.

“You underestimate my power!”

“Don’t do it.” begs Obi-Wan, and Vader knows why he begs. _He knows he’s finished. He regrets his stubbornness and wishes to surrender_. Even in his anger, Vader aims for his shoulder. Not enough to kill him, but it’ll leave him badly scarred.

Vader jumps over Obi-Wan, directing his lightsaber towards his right shoulder. Obi-Wan strikes Vader with an upward slash and Vader lands on his feet with his back turned to his master, stumbling and almost falling down; a deep cut marks Vader’s left tigh, and he has to support his weight on his opposing leg now, breathing hard through his mouth. He limps in order to turn around and face Obi-Wan, and he sees that his master holds his wounded shoulder with his free hand; the lightsaber had cut him deep, and Obi-Wan’s own saber was held between trembling fingers as Vader’s former master grunted from between his clenched teeth, his features twisted in pain as he winces, turning to face his former apprentice.

Obi-Wan raises his lightsaber in front of himself, taking a defensive stance despite his feet that stumble with every step; the blue light of his saber is a blur in front of the Jedi master for he was trembling so much, his face pale and exhausted. Vader shakes his head, feeling his own exhaustion in his bones as well and opening his arms.

“I’m trying to achieve peace, Obi-Wan.” his voice is weary and knowing “And you? All you want is to fight. This is all they’ve ever taught you, isn’t it? This self righteousness, this ruthlessness.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes are gleaming with the undying strength of his Force, and although for two times he stumbles and almost collapses down, he still walks towards Vader, clenching his jaw against the pain. His formerly white robes are blackened and burned where the lightsaber had hit them and despite his focus, the injury seems to be taking its toll on Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“I fight for peace.” he manages to say between each labored breath he draws in, staring deep into Vader’s eyes “For democracy. For freedom. And I will only stop when my dead body hits the ground.”

Anakin lowers his head, closing his eyes for no more than a second to then raise them up to Obi-Wan’s.

“I did not wish for it to end like this.”

There’s a moment in which Obi-Wan locks eyes with the Sith Lord and time seems to stop, the roaring of fire and lava dropping down to silence. A hot gust of wind makes the men’s robes flutter softly as they measure each other. Then the moment is gone and Vader lunges forward, swinging his lightsaber horizontally in a deadly move. Obi-Wan counters it with a sharp upward blow aimed towards his former apprentice’s head. Vader flinches back one second too late, and the lightsaber cuts over his face from his left cheekbone up to his brow, going over his eye on its way, close enough to burn and permanently blind it.

Vader gasps, stumbling back as his hand reaches for the the wound that still sizzles. His entire face burns in searing pain and his injured leg gives way for once, forcing him to drop down on his knees, lightsaber dropping from his numb fingers. He gasps once again, and his pained screams cut the night as he looks up to Obi-Wan with his remaining eye that overflows with tears, his face twisted in agony, disbelief and sheer hatred. He was supposed to be strong enough to take Obi-Wan. He could feel the power within him, but he had failed still.

Obi-Wan looks at Vader as if having his enemy gravely wounded and disarmed on the ground was the last thing he could possibly want. _Maybe he wishes I had tried to cut his neck off instead. Maybe he wishes I had killed him, to spare him from getting his hands dirty_. Obi-Wan, however, changes his lightsaber to his left hand, probably due to the pain in his wounded arm. Vader had never seen such pain in Obi-Wan’s face, and he can’t understand, he can’t see why does he look so deeply hurt. His face is sweaty and the tears welling up in his eyes stream down his face and into his beard, as he shakes his head breathing heavily.

The wind agitates his robes and his hair, and Obi-Wan looks around as if he believes the whole thing to be some horrid nightmare, like the ones that had been plaguing Vader’s mind so often. Somewhere close by, Vader hears a ship’s engine approaching. It could be Yoda or the Emperor, whoever have survived the last jedi duel. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Vader knows that this will be long over before anyone manages to approach this shore.

“You were the chosen one!” yells Obi-Wan, and never had Vader heard his voice so pained and somehow angry; the rage doesn’t seem to be directed at his former apprentice but at Obi-Wan himself, for Vader can feel it in his Force as he gestures weakly towards him “It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them!” Obi-Wan sniffles, holding back a sob “Bring balance to the Force! Not leave it in _darkness!”_

The lava bursts and rages on the shore, and the heat is unbearable. The hot grainy sand under Vader’s knees seems to scorch him as much as Obi-Wan’s words. Vader looks at Obi-Wan still and the feelings he’s had for him, of friendship, companionship and trust are now clashing with his own jealousy and hurt, twisting into an unspeakable anger that burns hotter than his wound. Why didn’t you trust me? Why did you never allow me to show my worth? Why did you make me afraid of myself, why did you let me become this monstrosity? Why did you strike me but didn’t kill me?

“I HATE YOU!” Vader roars as his gloved fingers dig into the fresh, linear scar over his eye.

Obi-Wan towers above him now, and Vader’s own blinding anger prevents him from pulling his lightsaber to himself with the Force in order to at least defend himself. Obi-Wan sobs, shaking his head, and there’s something in his eyes that say ‘ _I should’ve said it sooner. I should’ve let you know’._ He looks down to Vader like one would look at a fallen warrior as he breathes his last; sorrow and anger and loss all at once.

“You were my _brother_ , Anakin. I _loved_ you!”

Vader’s eye grows wide and his mouth falls open at the despair in Obi-Wan's eyes. _This had been Obi-Wan’s weakness all along. This was his attachment. His own failure as a Jedi._

For two times Obi-Wan hesitates as he raises his lightsaber, looking away from Vader as if he couldn’t bear to witness his own killing, and Vader still looks at him in awe and disbelief. Both Obi-Wan and Vader hear footsteps in the distance, probably the one who’d landed the ship close by a few moments before. It would be safer for Obi-Wan to end this quickly, but the time passes by and he still hasn’t acted. It’s only then that a shrill voice cuts the smoky sulphur atmosphere, and it’s filled with dread.

“Obi-Wan! No!”

Obi-Wan looks uphill, as does Vader.

“Padmé!...” the Jedi whispers in a sigh of both exhaustion and shock

He fails to take action once again, and the senator rushes downhill as fast as her pregnant body allows her to, dropping to her knees in front of Vader as she faces Obi-Wan in full attacking stance, lightsaber high up in the air, her arms wide open to defend him.

“Move out of the way, Padmé!” Obi-Wan demands, his eyes on Vader

Anakin grabs on Padmé’s tunic, trying to push her aside despite his own pain and tiredness.

“Padmé, stay away! It’s dangerous, why are you…?”

“Because I can’t stand while you slaughter each other!” cries Padmé, looking at Vader over her shoulder and then back at Obi-Wan. “There needs to be a solution without a killing having to take place! Maybe… Maybe we can to work something out!”

“There is no working something out!” exclaims Obi-Wan as his eyes are still glistening with tears “Not with the Siths!”

Vader lets out a grunt that makes him sound like he had scoffed.

“I thought… only a Sith would deal in absolutes, Obi-Wan.”

Vader looks at Obi-Wan with the smile he used to give him after cracking some silly joke during a dangerous duel with Grievous or Ventress and he can see it _disgusts_ the Jedi. Obi-Wan correct his stance and Vader can notice his wobbly knees. He’s exhausted and wounded, and he is about to collapse.

“Move, Padmé.” he demands “He’s the embodiment of everything you’ve ever fought against”

“He’s the one I love!” Padmé begs, shaking her head to then wince I’m pain, placing her hands over her belly “Please…!” she lets out a pained moan but still shields Vader behind her.

Obi-Wan raises both the lightsaber and his free hand, clearly trying to push Padmé away and slay Vader at the same time, but his Force has grown weary. Vader lowers the hand he’s had over his face, letting the fresh scar tissue over his right eye show; the Sith Lord lifts a finger to point at Obi-Wan, and the Jedi’s eyes grow wide and drops his lightsaber, coughing. The weapon deactivates, lying useless on the rough sand.

Obi-Wan’s hand moves frantically to his own neck as if he were fighting an invisible hand that is trying to choke him; he coughs even harder now, his face going redder than it already had been from the fight and the heat.

“Anakin…!” he manages to gasp as he drops to his knees, wheezing

Vader smiles through his own pain from behind Padmé's back, his hand half-open towards Obi-Wan’s direction over her shoulder.

“Thank you, Padmé.” he says in a somehow sweet voice, despite his raw throat and his shallow breathing “Now it’s done.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes fall shut and the Jedi colapses on the rough sand. Padmé clamps a hand over her mouth, smothering a scream.

“Obi-Wan!” she sobs, grabbing her own head in her hands “Anakin, what have you done?!"

Vader rises to his feet, fighting the urge to drop down too; His hand covers his eye once more and he grunts. His entire body is in intense pain, especially his face and leg.

“He’s alive. He will live.” he grabs hold of Padmé’s arm, helping her up “We need to go back… to the ship…”

Padmé can barely stand, placing her hand on her belly and wincing.

“I…I think our son…” she doesn’t finish the sentence, and Vader’s eyes grow wide as he draws in a sharp breath.

"No... I need to get you out of here."

He hears a familiar beep and looks over his shoulder in time to see a very distressed golden droid walking stiffly downhill accompanied by a small, rounder droid rolled down as fast as it could.

“Threepio! Artoo!” he calls as he sees them “Take Padmé to the ship!”

“What of Obi-Wan?!” Padmé begs

Vader looks down to his former master, who lies still on the ground.

“I’ll take care of him.”

“Anakin…”

C3-PO rushes stiffly to Padmé.

“Goodness! Senator, Master Skywalker, I have been wondering where would the two you been gone to!”

Vader gives him a sharp nod.

“Take her into the ship. Now.”

R2D2 rolled fast to Vader as C3-PO guided Padmé back into the ship. She kept looking over his shoulder to Vader the whole time. R2D2 stopped by Obi-Wan’s side, beeping softly” and Vader sighed.

“I know, my friend, it has come to this.”

Artoo beeped again, cooing, and Vader got down to lift Obi-Wan’s arm over his own shoulder, using the Force to help him carry the jedi.

“I will find a way, Artoo. He will understand. I’m sure of it.”

Vader stumbles, and Artoo stands behind him, partially pushing his master back uphill towards the ship. C3-PO waits for Vader at the ramp, and Vader hisses at the pain on his leg, and as the same pain makes him scrunch his nose, a new agony pricks the skin over his new scar. Vader lets Obi-Wan lie on the ship’s floor as the ramp retracts and closes. Vader breathes so hard he can’t understand how he hasn’t fainted yet.

“Threepio,” he huffs “I’ll need you to pilot. There’s a space station, I’ll give you the coordinates…”

C3-PO points a thumb over his shoulder towards the back of the ship, sounding extremely distressed.

“I would have to pilot nonetheless! Master! Senator Amidala has fainted!”

Vader gets to his feet but stumbles down to one knee, pain searing through his leg.

“Get to the controls!” he yells “Now!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, please comment if you want to. On the next chapter, we'll see what will happen to Obi-Wan, as we'll see what is happening with the few survivors of the Jedi Purge.


	5. The Dearest Bliss, The Unnerving Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darth Vader takes his beloved Padmé to a safe place where she can deliver her child. With him he also takes his reluctant former master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently started watching the clone wars and i'm deliberatly using the clone troopers in this story because not only i don't know yet which of them will die, but also because it's an AU so canon can (force) choke.

Vader is tired. Despite its quick action, there wasn’t much the medical droid aboard the ship could do for his leg, and Vader refused a shot to soothe his pain. He doesn’t want anything getting in the way of his senses until he can bring Padmé to safety. Vader winces once again at the pain in his leg but he watches over Padmé relentlessly. His wife’s breathing is labored and shallow, and he glances over his shoulder for a moment, looking at Obi-Wan behind him. His former master lies on the floor with his wrists handcuffed together and is also passed out. Part of Vader wonders if Obi-Wan remains out of his senses because he doesn’t actually wish to ever wake up again, and he grinds his teeth in frustration. All he wants now is one of Obi-Wan’s advices; Padmé ‘s forehead is glistening with sweat and she’d begin to writhe softly even not being entirely awake. Vader caresses her face.

“Oh, Padmé, please stay with me.”

C3-PO’s shrill voice comes from the cockpit.

“Oh, dear, master Skywalker. They recognize the Republic’s ship and demand us to identify ourselves”

Vader looks at his Padmé one last time before leaving in order to join Threepio. He does not sit on the copilot’s seat, for he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to get up again afterwards, such is the pain in his leg. He reaches the radio speaker, opening the channel. A man’s voice comes in an distressed tone:

“I repeat, republic vessel, identify yourself or we will open fire.”

“This is General…” Vader stops. No, he’s _not_ general Skywalker, not anymore. He feels his own heart skip a beat, and he inhales sharply “This is Darth Vader, Sith Lord, pupil of Darth Sidius, the Emperor. I order you to stand down and let me and my crew inside.”

There is pride in his voice. Yes, pride. He is proud of being the one Sidius had chosen to have as his pupil. Thousands of jedi across the galaxy and the most powerful Sith Lord had picked him. Not Fisto, not Koon, not any other, but Anakin Skywalker. Vader closes the channel and orders C3-PO to prepare for landing, returning then to the back of the ship. Padmé is still unconscious, drenched in sweat and whimpering softly, and Vader touches her face with the back of his hand. Obi-Wan is still unconscious in the stretcher across from Padmé’s.

“He chose _me,_ ” he says defiantly over his shoulder as if Obi-Wan can hear him “Not you. Me. Because I’m more powerful, stronger, wiser, _better._ He will break the shackles with which you have bound me, once and for all, Obi-Wan…”

 _And then I shall kill him myself,_ completes Vader in his head. But these plans didn’t matter now. For now, everything that matters is Padmé.

* * *

 As the ship lands in the hangar the clone troopers surround it, pointing their blasters at the trembling C3-PO atop of the ramp. Vader takes a step forward from behind the droid, limping almost unnoticeably and the commander in charge scream:

“Hold it right there, jedi!”

Vader raises a hand and the blasters are pulled out of the troopers’ hands, scattering to the ground. A sudden head rush gets hold of Vader; it isn’t wise to use the Force when he feels so weak. He tries to even his breathing as he speaks and his voice echoes in the hangar.

“Stand down, troopers, for I am no jedi. I am Darth Vader, and you are under my command.” he is still not used to the his shortened sight, and has to turn his head in order to see each and every trooper surrounding him with only his left eye “Now _stand down and get me a medical unit_.”

The commander hesitates, his hand stopping in the middle of the gesture of reaching for the spare blaster in his holster.

“Stand down.” he orders "Stand down, that’s Lord Vader.”

The clone holsters his gun while his men do the same.

“Get a medic unit.” orders the commander “Lord Vader is injured.”

“It’s not for me.” Vader touches the scar over his eye as a small group of troopers climb the ramp into the ship “It’s for my…” Vader bites his tongue; he didn’t need to go announcing everywhere that Padmé is his wife; he knows that the Jedi had codes against his attachment, and even though the Siths don’t have such codes, maybe the whole thing should still be kept a secret from Sidius. Vader has had enough of masters who don’t understand his love for the senator. He gestures at Padmé, and his vision begins to blur; he’s exhausted, yet he bites the inside of his cheek, fighting to stay alert “This woman is a senator of the Republic, but she’s on our side and must be treated with utmost care.”

The clone troopers nod to him, rushing to get Padmé on a stretcher. Vader is walking out of the ship by her side, holding Padmé’s hand when he hears a clone’s distressed voice screaming in alert:

“A jedi!”

Vader looks back right in time to catch a glimpse of a clone trooper being sent flying out  of the ship. There are screams from the troopers, and Vader tries to run back to the ship, but he winces at the pain in his injured leg. The clone commander that had spoken first rushes to his side, supporting him.

“Don’t kill him!” orders Vader, but when the second clone is kicked out of the ship he sees Obi-Wan’s boot connecting with his chest plate. The third clone gives a warning shot, following his orders not to kill him, and Obi-Wan takes the chance to kick him out too, now rushing back inside, probably for the ships controls. Vader raises his arm and pulls Obi-Wan with the force until he stumbles back, falling flat on his back, and he screams in pain due to his injured shoulder. Obi-Wan gets to his feet rather quickly for someone with such a wound, and he bares his teeth at the armed clones surrounding him. His hand reach for his belt, clearly trying to find his lightsaber. He looks at Vader wide-eyed to then lower his eyes to the two lightsabers hanging from his former apprentice's belt.

“These are force-proof handcuffs, Obi-Wan.” warns Vader. Obi-Wan still looks around as if he’s looking for some way to escape. Vader speaks to the clones now “Contain him, take him to a medical droid. If he refuses to walk, drag him. Keep him restrained at all times.”

The clones advance, pushing Obi-Wan on his back to force him to move forward. The Jedi look at Vader and sneers, his voice dripping with contempt.

“Some Sith you are. You seem to lack the courage to kill me, _old friend!_ ”

Vader is still thinking of an answer as the clones force Obi-Wan to leave the hangar. Darth Vader tries to limp forward but almost collapses, and the clone commander still supports him by the arm.

“Lord Vader, are you sure that only your eye is injured?”

“Leg.” Vader grunts out “Help me up to the medical ward, I need to watch over Pad… Amidala.”

The trooper helps him on his next steps out of the hangar.

“Sir, with all due respect, you need treatment.”

Vader’s voice comes strained from between his clenched teeth:

“I’ll be treated after I check on Amidala.”

* * *

Padmé lies on the table and she looks so small, so weak. Vader stumbles to her side, cupping her face gently. Vader calls her name softly as the medical droid injects something in her arm, and Padmé’s eyelids flutter open. She smiles weakly and then grimaces, raising a trembling hand to her husband’s face.

“Oh, Ani….”

Vader can feel her thumb brushing over the scar on his cheekbone and he bites his lip as his wife winces in pain, grunting.

“Shh, I’m here, Padmé, I’m here with you.”

The medical droid spoke from across the table close to Padmé’s knees with its electronic voice devoid of feelings:

“I’ll need you to push, miss. We need to finish this quickly before you bleed any further.”

Vader feels his entirely face suddenly going cold and numb.

“ _Bleed?_ ” he echoes weakly, his eyes still on Padmé

“There have been complications.” explains the droid “The senator’s heart rate is going far above the expected and we can’t seem to be able to slow it down. If we give her another sedative, she might go into shock and not wake up again, and if we don’t get the children out quickly, she might bleed herself out.”

Padmé grows paler, but it doesn’t seem to be out of fear of the possible death sentence the droid had just given her. She manages to push herself up on one elbow, gasping out:

_“Children?!”_

“You are carrying twins, miss.”

Padmé collapses back on the stretcher, and tears are spilling from her eyes. Her voice comes out hoarse and terrified.

“Don’t let them die! Don’t let my babies die!”

Vader grabs Padmé’s hand, looking deep in her eyes.

“C’mon, love, we can do it. You can do it, Padmé, you are the strongest person I know. C’mon, my love, push!”

Padmé grits her teeth, letting out a pained scream, and when she squeezes Vader’s hand he’s almost glad she chose the prosthetic one, for he can almost hear the engines buzzing under the pressure. _We are all born in pain and so many of us die in pain. So sad is this existence of us, but not anymore, not on my new empire. Come, my children. I will build a safe galaxy just for your mother and the two of you._

It seemed to take hours; Padmé cried and winced and begged the whole time, her face wet with tears growing paler by the minute. Then…

A soft cry. A soft, small, weak cry comes as the medical droid brings something very small wrapped in a white blanket.

“This is the boy.” states the droid flatly

The baby, _their_ baby is smeared with blood all over and his little eyes seem so scared. Vader raises his hands to grab the child – does he dare? He hesitates, looking at his hands, hands of a killer, hands that cut and killed and choked the life out of so many.

“Take him.” says Padmé softly with a whimper, and Vader reaches for his son at once, taking his small, frail body in his hands.

He’s so light, almost weightless. Vader gazes at the small blue eyes, at the reddened face, hears the shrill crying out of this creature that is of his making. His son. He made this child, he brought it to existence. He is his son. Shmi Skywalker’s words come into his mind as if Anakin’s mother is there beside him:  _you only deserve to have something when you are ready to take responsibility for it_.

“I do.” whispers Vader as he clutches his son close to his chest “I take full responsibility. I will protect you. I swear, my son, for all the stars in the universe, I will protect you.”

Vader leans to Padmé, showing her the small infant that still cried softly. Padmé smile between her tears, her breathing ragged and tired.

“Luke… can we call him Luke?”

Vader nods, and he can feel something wet on the right side of his face. Padmé screams in pain, squirming on the table and sobbing weakly. As the assistant droid takes Luke out of Vader’s hand he almost reaches out to punch it – how can they want him to ever let him go? Padmé wails.

“I can’t, I can’t do this, I can’t!”

The droid’s electronic voice comes from the other side of the table.

“The second one seems to be having trouble coming out, miss. I need you to push _now_.”

Vader touched Padmé’s face lightly.

“Padmé, c’mon, we’re so close, my love.”

Padmé wasn’t squirming anymore. In fact, she is barely moving and her breathing is slow and exhausted.

“Ani, if I die, take care of them, promise me.”

 _No. No, Padmé can’t die. I won’t let her._ Vader places his flesh hand on her belly, closing his eye, focusing on the Force. He can feel Padmés weak, tired body. She’s too scared, all her muscles pulled tight. If he manages to make her relax, maybe the other twin will be able to come out. He senses something else though, a weakness inside Padmé. If she relaxes, her bleeding will increase too. They had to be fast enough.

“Droid, she will give one more push. I need you to pull my child out as fast and safely as you can and patch Padmé up. Can you do this?”

The droid closes its eyes as if it had nodded. Vader looks at Padmé, trying to smile but his nervousness wouldn’t allow him to.

“Okay, Padmé, now one more push. The last one, I promise. One, two…three!”

Padmé shrieks, and Vader forces her muscles to relax. His head throbs and his knees feel wobbly, but he won’t stop until he sees both of his children alive and well. Padmé's voice is only a whisper now:

“If it’s a boy… Jinn… if it’s a girl… Leia….” Vader's beloved close her eyes, falling silent.

Vader looks down to the droid, seeing he has a small child wrapped in white sheets now, tiny just as Luke is… but there is no crying.

“Droid?” called Vader tentatively, tapping Padmé on her face “Droid?!”

“The child is not breathing.” States the droid “The umbilical cord had her strangled for no more than a second, but there were damages. Her heart is still beating, but she needs to breathe.”

Vader looks at Padmé one last time before he limps to the droid.

“Give her to me! Patch Padmé up, stop her bleeding!”

Vader carefully grabs the small baby, holding her in his arms and having her lie on her back. Vader’s jaw is trembling. For once, for the first time since he’d found his mother dying under the torture of the sand people, he is truly scared.

“Leia… Leia, breathe for me, please.” He places his flesh hand on her tiny throat, bending the force around and in it “Breathe for me, baby girl, please…”

Vader could swear he heard the faint pneumatic sound of an air chamber being filled, and it reminded him of his machines and pod racing and droids and _Force, please let her live, let my Leia live…_

The loud, pained crying was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.

* * *

 “Will she be alright?” asks Vader, caressing Padmé’s hair; their children are safe on her arms, and Leia is being quietly breastfed while her brother sleeps peacefully, and Padmé herself seems to be only half-awake.

“She needs rest.” says the droid “But she will be fully recovered soon.”

Vader nods, feeling a warm relief spreading inside his chest. It was over. She was safe.

“Good.” His vision gest cloudy for a moment, and he doesn’t understand why he hears Padmé scream ‘Ani!’ until he realizes he’s sprawled on the floor “What…?”

“Syncope, sir.” says the droid as two assistant droids carry Vader up to a floating stretcher despite his pained gasp when they move his leg “You pulled through the children’s birth, but now that you allowed yourself to relax, you crashed. We need to patch your wounds up, and we need to do it now. My colleague will watch over you now.”

The droids carry Vader out of the room as another medical droid joined them, and the glass door closes shut behind them.

“No…” Vader grunts “The commander… I need to speak with him… Get him here now!”

“Sir.” says the medical droid assigned to take care of him “We urge you to…”

Vader presses the droid against the nearest wall using only the little amount of Force his dizzy mind can bear to.

“Now!”

The medical droid turns its eyes to another droid.

“Get the commander.”

A third droid goes out and is back in no more than a few seconds, along with the commander. The scratched clone armor is familiar to Vader, and as the clone pulls out his helmet, he recognizes him with ease.

“Boil.” says between his teeth as the droids carry him down the corridor “Good to see you.”

“Likewise, sir.” says Boil with a sharp nod

“Watch over senator Amidala. No one but you gets in or out.”

Boil nods attentively once again.

“Yessir.”

“If anybody dares to hurt her,” presses Vader in a dark tone “there will be no stopping to my rage, commander. I will turn this place into a morgue. I won't need a lightsaber, for I will kill every single person here with my bare hands if I have to.”

Boil looks in his general’s eyes. There’s no mercy in them, only a promise of ruthless, unstoppable pain.

“Leave it to me, sir.”

And as the clone rushes towards Padmé’s room to stand guard by the door, his blaster in hand, Vader lets his eyes fall shut. The last sound he hears before collapsing at once is his ragged breathing, and then there’s only darkness.


	6. The Priceless Art of Their Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vader undergoes some needed improvements and has an unexpected meeting. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan gets healed from his wounds, and the unlikely trio Rex, Ahsoka and Maul try to escape from the sieged planet of Mandalore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some blood, a little bit of surgery/medical horror but nothing gory, right at the beginning.

Darkness doesn’t last long, and it’s replaced by the blurred white of the ceiling that Vader sees when his eye snaps open at the sharp pain in his leg. It feels like it’s burning and Vader’s screams in pain as he clenches his jaw and writhes; his body is immobilized on the table by tight black straps that go over his chest and shoulders, binding him. The pain in his leg worsens, the burning sensation as if they were cutting it open with a lightsaber, and he screams once again in utter agony.

“No sedatives” says a raspy voice close to Vader’s head “They will interfere with the midichlorians in his blood.”

Vader winces, whimpering. He feels like dark Force is pooling around and dragging him in. He hears the medical droid’s electronic voice:

“He might die from the sheer pain of the procedure, sir. He was using the Force to support himself the entire time, his leg is destroyed from half of his tigh down, and attaching prosthetics without anesthesia might be…”

The raspy voice answers:

“If he dies, then it’s his fate. Finish cutting this useless scrap of meat and bone off of him and attach a prosthetic leg on its place, droid. His life is not of your concern.”

“As you wish, sir.” mutters the droid in a condescending tone

The numb throb on Vader’s leg turned into the blinding pain of a burn being inflicted as the soft mechanic whirring sound fills the room. Vader thinks he can hear a pleased laugh somewhere far away but he’s not sure, not in the chaos of agony that fills his mind.

The pain keeps going. It doesn’t ease. It doesn’t stop. Vader screams himself hoarse, fighting against his bonds and slamming the back of his head against the operation table. When the cutting and burning and pulling at his leg finally stops, the left side of Vader’s face is wet with tears and he gasps, trying to inhale the air that doesn’t seem to fill his lungs. The straps finally let him free. Vader writhes and fights to raise himself up on his elbows, looking down to the blood that covers the table under his legs and- and to the prosthetic piece attached to his leg halfway up his tigh, made of a dark chromed metal and many wirings and cables made to perfectly mimic the movements of the limb it replaces, as his prosthetic hand also do.

His head is spinning. So much blood, amputating what was left of his leg… the bleeding itself was supposed to have killed him. No human could survive this.

The midichlorians, he thinks, his unnatural bond with the Force and his own commitment to Padmé must be what kept him alive. He couldn’t die and leave her alone. He was hers and she was his. He couldn’t dare take himself from her, or let her out of his grasp.

Four droids lift him by his arms, forcing him up as they float carrying him with ease towards a bacta tank nearby. Vader means to order them to stop and let him down, to let him see his wife, but his tongue feels like lead in his mouth so his arms relax against his will as he is placed in the warm liquid. The new connections in his leg hurt and prickle, sending small sparks of agony in his brain. As his head is lowered and the lid is placed atop of the tank, the fresh cut on his face feels hot and numb, and his eyes fall shut against his will.

* * *

 Vader can see Padmé. He can see his children in her arms. They’re right there, in front of his eyes smiling to him like the family he’s never had before, when a shadow devours them whole and there’s only darkness. Vader’s only eye snaps open and he feels his body floating about in the bacta tank. Padmé. He shouldn’t have left her alone. A crack draws a web on the surface of the glass structure under the pressure of his force, and in the following instant the tubular glass explodes in sharp shards that pierce the medical droids surrounding him, destroying them. The healing liquid of the tank splashes on the floor and Vader now stands on his flesh leg and his new prosthetic one, his breathing harsh and shallow.

 _Padmé_.

Vader pulls his robes to himself with his Force, taking a step forward as he dresses his body that is still wet from the tank. The leg feels strange, stiff, and it takes him a few strides to get some rhythm to his steps. He ties his robes carelessly, dragging his fingers over his face to get his damp hair off his eye and reaching for the reassuring grips of the two lightsabers on the belt he’s still tying around his waist. One of the remaining medical droids makes the mistake of speaking to him.

“Sir, you should remain…”

Vader closes a fist and the droid crumples on itself like a dried leaf, letting out black smoke out of its fried circuits and a long shrill sound before dropping useless on the floor. The Sith Lord keeps walking, the Force inside him feeling hot and raw with untamed power. It was said that the Sith didn’t have nightmares, so the only explanation was that someone had been prying into his mind, letting images he never meant to see slither inside his brain. Vader clenched his teeth. He was nobody’s pawn. Anyone toying with his head would have hell to pay.

He strides down the corridor as he holds Obi-Wan’s lightsaber and his own in each hand, turning around the hall to see the Boil collapsed on the floor, blood trailing out of his nose and lips. He is still breathing, but seems to be very hurt.

“Tried to hold him off, sir. The Emperor.” says the commander as he looks up to Vader in pain “But when I refused his orders my head just…” he grunts as more blood oozes out of his nose “I’m sorry.”

Vader’s thumb goes over the button on his lightsaber. He promised death and pain to anyone who let someone into Padmé’s room. He draws a breath. The Order 66 would prevent the clone to say no to the Emperor. If Palpatine himself had entered there, it really wasn’t his fault.

Still, Vader presses the button to draw out the weapon’s blue light, piercing the clone’s chest through his armor in a swift move.

“You are forgiven, commander.” he sneers

Vader watches the light going out of the clone’s wide eyes and for a moment there’s raw triumph in his chest, but regret rushes to follow it. Boil was a good soldier. Brave, faithful, honest. And he clearly did try to stop whoever had tried to enter Padmé’s room.

“Doesn’t matter.” he mutters to himself, drawing the lightsaber blade back and standing up to walk into Padmé’s room.

Vader sees the reflexive glass door open and lets out a sigh of relief as he sees Padmé lying asleep on her bed. The relief doesn’t last when he looks past her and sees little Leia in her crib, stretching her tiny arm in an attempt to reach for Palpatine’s finger that is pointing at her.

It’s an odd thing, this old man smiling to an infant and reaching an index to her like so many would do when they play with a baby. The image would be soft, endearing even, but instead it lets out an evil energy that seems to make Vader’s heart clench in his chest. His mouth feels suddenly very dry, and his body wrapped in damp cloaks feels cold. Palpatine – Sidius – speaks in his raspy voice, looking at Leia as if she’s the most interesting thing he’d ever lay his eyes upon.

“Who would’ve thought?” Leia’s little hand is almost touching his now, and Sidius’ tone is low enough not to wake Padmé up “The respectable Jedi knight, the proud chosen one of the Order…” he turns his cloaked face to Vader, and he can see his yellow eyes shining in the shadows. “Sleeping with a woman in secret. A senator of the Republic, no less. You never really cared for the codes, did you, my apprentice?” he pauses, clicking his tongue “No, you were never a true Jedi, no matter how much they tried to make you one.”

Vader tenses his jaw, the lightsabers still firm in his grip. _Get away from my daughter, get away from my little Leia, get away from her…_

“I suppose I wasn’t, master.”, says Vader in a voice that is barely a whisper; he does not wish Padmé to wake up and see the Sith Emperor next to his newborn children.

Sidius lets out a discreet laugh, and when he pulls his hand away from Leia, Vader stops pressing his tongue against his palate, and a very small amount of his tension leaves his shoulders. Nonetheless, he still feels like a ship’s spring wound too tight, just about to collapse and implode on itself. Sidius, however, maintains the conversation as if they were still Jedi and Chancellor sharing their thoughts back in Coruscant.

“I was trying to feel the Force within them.” Sidius now walks to Luke’s crib and places a finger over his own wrinkled lips as he stares pensively at the newborn “But there’s something interfering with my perceptions. At first I had thought it might've been you, but I didn’t feel the untamed raw Force you’ve always let out, my apprentice. No, I…” Sidius tapped his finger to his chin, turning to look at Vader “I feel a calm, serene Force, despite some disturbed vibrations. It feels very much like a Jedi’s but all the clones were ordered to shoot them to kill. I wonder if there’s one of them hiding in this very base, like the little worms they seem to be.”

Sidius tone made it very clear that he wasn’t wondering it at all, but fishing for answers. Vader knew Sidius enough up to now in order to know that he would search his mind if he felt like he needed to. If Vader told him the truth, Obi-Wan could end up being killed, but if he lied, the two of them might end up dead. He should be upfront with the Emperor, at least for now.

“I brought my former master here.”

 

Vader stands beside Sidius, looking at Obi-Wan Kenobi as he floats in the bacta tank, his eyes shut and his hair moving softly, surrounded by the small bubbles that float around him in the liquid. His wrists are still bound above his head by the force-proof handcuffs, and Vader can see the red marks digging on his skin suggesting how hard he must’ve tried to break himself free from them before finally being sedated and placed in the tank.

“What made you think that bringing Obi-Wan Kenobi here was a good idea?” asks Sidius dryly

Vader merely gazes at his friend, seeing the many scars that decorate his body. The circular blaster burn he’d taken in a mission in Mandalore, the horizontal line in his arm from a rather unpleasant situation with Grievous in a remote planet on the Outer Rim, and, still red and very dark, the new scar on his shoulder made by Vader’s lightsaber back at Mustafar.

“I believe he can be brought to the dark side, Master.” says Vader intently “I’ve seen his heart, and it’s tainted. If we manage to break him further, tear his codes from him and rewrite them…”

He turns to face his master, gazing nervously at the floor. Sidius sighs and shakes his head.

“My boy” he says, moving his hand in a very slow motion to grab Vader’s wrist; his hand feels cold and his grip is vicious like one of a scaly furnoc’s “What use could I have for Kenobi when I have you? You must know by now that you are far more superior than he is.”

Vader smiles shyly, pride welling up in his chest. Superior. _Obi-Wan is no longer the master. We’re equals; no, much better than that, I am superior to him._

Sidius returns his smile, now grabbing Vader’s jaw and forcing his face up in order to meet the younger man's eyes.

“But I do believe you could have use for an apprentice in the ways of the dark side. Dooku had Grievous, and you may have Kenobi… if you manage to bring him to our side.” he releases his grip on Vader’s face, gazing back at Obi-Wan one last time before turning his back on his apprentice “Oh, and Lord Vader… Do make sure of breaking him. I have use for a new Sith Lord, but no use for a vengeful Jedi in my Empire.”

Vader bowed to his master’s back.

“I will be certain to to bring him to the dark side.”

“And if he resists?”

Vader hesitates, swallowing hard to then look at Obi-Wan floating in the tank, his eyes shut.

“Then I shall kill him myself, master.”

* * *

 Ahsoka looked around, powering down her lightsaber. Almost all of the clone troopers lying dead on her feet seem to be shinies. Ahsoka, Rex and Darth Maul had managed to leave the cave in which Ahsoka had escaped to with them and they had found a safe route that was only watched over by a small platoon. Rex still has his blaster in his hands, and Ahsoka can notice how tightly his jaw is clenched. Darth Maul, on the other hand, is still pulling his red dual-bladed lightsaber out of a dead trooper’s chest. Ahsoka hated to admit it, but Maul's help had proven to be very useful; not only his skills with a lightsaber were impressive, but his acrobatic fighting style had dragged most of the attention to himself, leaving Ahsoka swift attack and Rex's precise firing an easier task to be done.

“And what now?” asks Ahsoka tentatively “I can’t think of anywhere to get ahold of a ship besides the Republic base we have in here.”

Rex is still looking at the fallen troopers. Blast those chips. Blast whoever thought of sticking them in their brains. Blast whoever gave them the order to shoot their own comrades.

“Rex?” calls Ahsoka as Maul walks to them, powering off his lightsaber and hanging it on his belt

“You said you had a plan, clone trooper.” spits Maul between his gritted yellowed teeth “Tell me you meant it.”

Rex looks up from the troopers to Ahsoka. His eyes seem lost and a tremor passes over his lips. For an instant, Ahsoka thinks he might drop to his knees and scream, but then his features grow calm and collected once more.

“I have a plan. Look for the tallest clone with the less damaged armor and put it on. Ahsoka, you too. We’ll use them to infiltrate the base. And you” he looks at Maul, sneering “Find a way to fit your horns into a helmet.”

Maul bares his teeth for a moment, but then turns around in order to look for a proper clone trooper armor. Rex kneels next to the man closest to him, drawing in a deep breath and pulling out his helmet. The dead clone has his eyes wide open, and when Ahsoka gets closer to Rex, he’s closing the other’s eyes as pain meets his own features. Ahsoka kneels by Rex’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Rex…”

“It never disturbed me.” Says Rex abruptly, eyes still fixated on the dead man “Seeing my own face on theirs. Gathering their dead bodies and listing their names… their numbers. It never hit me deep, maybe because I never allowed it to. Maybe because I knew that if I did, I’d be broken and I wouldn’t be able to fix it. Heh.” He let out a sad laugh “This was the word, ‘Broken’. Not ‘mad’, not ‘insane’ but ‘broken’. I guess I never did manage to think about myself as anything other than a tool of the republic. A thing.”

Rex undid the clasp of his blue shoulder pads, allowing them to slide down his shoulders and fall to the ground.

“It never bothered me, being a tool, though.” He continued “I had a noble purpose. I was saving lives, I was aiding my comrades. I never regretted anything, Ahsoka, not for a single day in my life.”

The sun is setting, painting the sky on a sickly shade of purple that reminds the trooper of a badly healed wound. A soft breeze brushes the meadows around them, and Ahsoka whispers Rex’s name once again, her voice shaking with sadness. The captain bites his lip for a second before continuing:

“From the day that I left my tube, throughout my whole life, I had been told that I was born to serve the republic, and I accepted this as my fate. And I don’t remember exactly when, but I decided to be the best one to do so. I was going to protect our generals, and our republic, and…” Rex lets out a sharp sigh as if he’d been stabbed in the gut, and his eyes scan the corpses collapsed on the meadow “And my brothers. And…” Rex clicks his tongue, and his voice begins to shake just so slightly “And now I realize…”

 “Will you two get moving?”

Maul towers above them, fully dressed in a clone trooper armor that only barely lets his red skin be seen between the white plates. Rex sighs, trading his helmet for the former group captain’s, and he clears his throat.

“He’s right. Let’s get moving. Ahsoka. You and me, new armors. Now.”

 

When the group finally reaches the clone base of Mandalore, Ahsoka mutters:

“How do you manage to breathe in this thing, Rex? It stinks!”

Rex clicks his tongue.

“Yeah, it gets sweaty and there’s not a lot the filters can do. That’s why we would always be so glad to be back at the base, I remember that Fives always said that he…”

Rex trails off, as if he’d just remembered that he wouldn’t be able to ever have fun with his clone brothers again, not after whatever the Separatists had done to their heads. Ahsoka turns to look at Maul, whose helmet would let a good amount of his neck showing, probably because his horns weren't allowing him to pull it all the way down like Rex had warned him it would. Luckly for them, Maul’s neck was entirely black, which made it easily able to be taken for the clone troopers’ black undershirt.

"I heard of the things you did here in Mandalore." says Ahsoka coldly "Of the people you've  _killed."_

Maul’s voice comes calm under the helmet’s filters.

“We are _not_ going to have small talk, jedi.”

“Shh.” Rex whispers “We’re here.”

Indeed, they’ve reached the main gate. No problems so far, and the armors seemed to have worked just fine, for nobody had stopped them until there. Two troopers salute Rex; he’s the one wearing a Captain’s helmet after all.

“Where’s the rest of your unit, sir?” one of them asks

Rex bows his head.

“All gone. The last ones remaining are these two. I need to report to our general.”

The two troopers look at each other to then nod to Ahsoka and Maul.

“Tough first day, eh, shinies? Your unit was the last one to return, sir.” they say to Rex “It looks like we've managed to get rid of every single jedi stationed in Mandalore.”

Ahsoka gasps.

“What?!”

The two troopers turn their faces covered by helmets to Ahsoka.

“Something wrong, shiny?”

Maul’s voice comes out of his helmet in a very good imitation of Rex’s voice and accent:

“My little friend didn’t expect us to get rid of them so quickly.” he says, his tone now sounding spiteful “But we all know that the Jedi are not so tough. They die easily. And soon they’ll be all dead.”

There is an instant of silence, and then one of the clones sound like he's smiling as he speaks:

“That’s right, rookie.” and then to Rex “Please, come on through, sir.”

The automatic doors open up with a pneumatic whistle and the trio walks inside, none of the three quite believing their luck.

 

 Finding a ship was not complicated. Neither was stealing it. Escaping with it while avoiding the base’s heavy gunfire at their tail was a whole other story.

“Ahsoka, I need you by my side handling the counterweapons!” Rex orders, flicking switches at the ship’s controls

“But someone needs to operate the cloaking device!” Ahsoka complains, taking her seat beside Rex’s “If we only had artoo…”

An impact shakes the ship so hard it almost made Ahsoka hit her face on the board.

“I don’t really believe that we can take another one of those!” screams Rex “And if we do, I’m sure we shouldn’t!”

“You!” Ahsoka snarls over her shoulder “Get to that panel and press the third green light on it!”

Maul raises an eyebrow, or maybe not. Ahsoka can't really tell because of the dark marks surrounding his eyes. Apparently he is very pleased for no longer having to wear the clone trooper uniform, and he's clipping his lightsaber back to his waistband. Good thing too. The last thing Ahsoka needs is Obi-Wan's least favorite Sith Lord trying to kill them while the former Republic clones are doing the same.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Another impact shakes the ship and a pool of red alert lights lights up in front of Ahsoka, and her eyes go wide.

“You can take orders from me or die, Mr. Horns! What do you choose?!” Maul grins, a manical grin that sends a shiver down Ahsoka spine. “Ah, great, the madman wants to die.”

Three torpedoes are advancing for their ship, and Maul may have taken a full second longer than what was absolutely necessary before finally activating their cloaking device. The ship seems to disappear in thin air, and the torpedoes fly right past their target. Ahsoka sighs, and as the ship restores the energy it spent, she sets the controllers in order to get them ready for a jump to hyperspace.

“Where are we going from here?” asks Maul with what seems to be genuine curiosity

Ahsoka hesitates before answering.

“We are going to get help.”


	7. Leave The Master Behind, For He Wouldn't Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vader loves his wife and children, and he needs to make Padmé understand his position in the new Empire Palpatine is building. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi refuses to cooperate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I prefer to keep the chapters small and focused in each action then to write enourmous chapters and take too long to update. I hope you don't mind. Good reading!

Padmé wakes up to see Vader holding one of their babies in his arms while watching over the other who sleeps in their floating crib. Vader is humming a song that Padmé has never heard before, and his flesh hand covers the child’s head, his thumb brushing over their cheek. Padmé groans, trying to get up, and Vader looks over his shoulder with concern in his eye.

“You should stay down.”

Padmé ignores his words, drawing a sharp breath as she sits up on the bed.

“How are they?”

Vader smiles softly, looking at the child he holds as he helps his wife to her feet with his free hand.

“Fine. They’re fine and healthy and _perfect,_ Padmé.”

Padmé reaches for the other child, carefully picking them up to then hold them close to the one her husband is holding. She lets out a small chuckle and her eyes are wet with tears.

“Can you tell them apart?”

Vader scrunches his nose.

“Of course I can.” he sounds playfully offended “This one is obviously Luke.”

Padmé raises an eyebrow, and the child in her arms opens her small eyes and yawns.

“How do you figure?”

Vader twists his lips and bows his head.

“Their Force vibrate in different ways.”

Padmé runs her fingers over the child’s soft, fine hair sounding amused.

“Really?”

“No.” Vader lowers his voice to a whisper as if the twins could understand his words “I’ve been having to double-check with the medical droid for the past thirty minutes.”

“Here we go.” Padmé shakes her head, lifting the fabric that covers the legs of the baby she holds “Okay, so _this_ is Luke, Mr. Skywalker, I expected better from you.”

Vader’s mouth falls open and he knits his brows to the baby in his hands.

“So this is Leia?” he groans “We need to come up with a better system than that.”

Padmé looks from one baby to another and a smile spreads across her lips.

“I think I got it. Look, Leia’s hair is just a little darker, see?”

Vader looks at Leia to then look at her brother. It’s true.

“Just like yours." he says "And Luke’s hair is lighter…”

“…Just like yours.”

Vader lets a small laugh out of his nose and Padmé leans on his arm, her eyes wet with tears.

“Oh my goodness, Ani, will we be able to do this? They’re so- so tiny! Will they be safe?”

Vader looks down to Padmé and plants a kiss to her forehead, breathing in her scent.

“No harm will come to them. Or you.” he adds

Padmé looks up to him and he sees she’s looking especially at his injured eye. Her smile fades away and she sighs.

“Even though the last thing I want to do is leave these two back in their cribs, we need to talk, Anakin.”

Vader grimaces to then nod.

“Yes. We do.”

Padmé leaves Luke in his crib and the boy drifts right back into sleep, but Vader is not so lucky. Leia cries when he tries to place her in her crib and he holds her back to himself, looking at Padmé wide-eyed.

“What do I do?!”

Padmé half-shrugs, walking to her husband, concern in her eyes.

“Rock her. Slowly.”

Vader presses the little girl close to his chest and begins to gently rock her. He looks at Padmé in anguish.

“Why does she sound so desperate? What’s going on? Is she hungry?”

Padmé kindly touches Leia’s cheek. The little girl’s face is red with the strength of her cries, and tears are pooling under her tightly shut eyes.

“She can’t be, I’ve only just fed her. Everything she’s feeling now, she’s feeling for the first time. Maybe she’s overwhelmed.”

Vader keeps rocking her and begins to sing absently. The lyrics to his song speak of someone waiting for many years for a chance to leave their home never to return, and Padmé recognizes the rhythm that Vader had been humming earlier. Leia’s cries are softer now, subsiding into a small whimper, and her eyes blink very slowly as if she’s drowsy.

“… _we’ll be far away across the desert’s sands_ ” sings Vader with a bitter smile “ _leave the master behind, for he wouldn’t understand…_ ”

Leia sleeps, her little mouth half-open. Vader’s singing falls to whisper and then silence. He carefully places Leia in her crib and signs to Padmé, and the two of them leave the room. The new appointed commander fortunately had already ordered his men to take Boil’s corpse out of the corridor. The last thing Vader needs right now would be having to explain a dead clone with a lightsaber strike to the chest in front of his wife’s room.

Silence sits heavy between them, and Padmé is the first to break it, leaning against a wall. Her body is still tired despite her going through labor having been several hours earlier.

“What is going on?”

Vader exhales. One question, so many things to explain.

“Do you want an abridged version?”

Padmé’s eyes narrow at Vader’s.

“I am a senator, Ani. I can handle long conversations.”

Vader lowers his eyes to then nod.

“Very well. Chancellor Palpatine has overthrown the Republic and is currently issuing a new order. An Empire, as he calls it.”

Padmé looks at Vader in utter shock, her eyes going wide and her mouth moving in words that don’t seem to come out.

“Chanc… Chancellor Palpatine?! He did… He was the one who... An “Empire”?!”

Vader nods, turning his back on Padmé and gazing at the mass of stars in the black sky outside the corridor’s windows. He can see his reflection in the glass, and sees that his right iris has become completely white after the lightsaber burn, and the light-pink scar that went over it from his temple to his cheekbone wasn't very deep after the time he'd spent in the bacta tank, but it would clearly be permanent. The former thin cut that used to be there didn't look so bad in retrospect.

“He is a Sith Lord.” Vader looks at Padmé over his shoulder “And he offered himself to be my master. He said that I have powers stronger than any Jedi has ever had.”

Padmé pursed her lips, her eyes going nervously from one side to the other.

“A… Sith Lord? Like the ones Mace mentioned? The… the ones from the Dark Side?”

A vein throbbed on Vader’s forehead at the disgust in Padmé’s voice.

“The Dark Side is not as bad as the Jedi make it sound like, Padmé. The power it has…”

“It seem very bad to me.” Padmé cuts him off in a loud voice “Since people like Ventress, Grievous and Dooku were part of it.”

Vader rolls his eyes turning to face his wife, but it’s hard to be angry at Padmé when she looks so beautiful even after the agony of childbirth. He sighs.

“Padmé, my love, I’m not saying they were good people. They were using the Dark Side for profit. For power. But I can use it for good. To end this war once and for all. To protect you and our children.”

Padmé rubs her eyes to then lower her hand, blinking several times as she looks at her husband.

“What of democracy? What of the Senate, what of the Republic?!”

“It had its time!” Vader snarls “It had its time and it failed spectacularly! How many troops did we lose? How many lives? How many children dead and forgotten like just another casualty? Children, Padmé, like Luke and Leia! Dead because of a spineless Senate that wouldn’t deal properly with this war!”

Padmé raises a finger to Anakin, her voice a dangerous whisper:

“They’re dead because of the separatists! And you had better lower that tone immediately if you wish to continue to talk to me!”

Anakin glares angrily at Padmé but he lowers his voice.

“What will lead to a smaller death toll? To keep waging war or joining the wining side? You know you are the only person who would actually steer the galaxy to a peaceful path. I am a military leader, Padmé, but you are the most brilliant politician I’ve ever met. And as Empress, you could…”

“I do not wish for such thing.” Padmé cuts him yet again “I have never wished for such power to be centralized in my hands, or anyone's, for that matter. Deciding the fate of entire systems like they’re pawns in a holo-game… this is for separatist monsters like Gunray!”

Vader clicks his tongue, violently shaking his head.

“Everything would be so much easier if you just stopped being so naïve!”

“I am a freedom fighter!” Padmé exclaims, offense clear in her voice “And you used to be one too, Anakin!”

Vader takes a wide step towards Padmé, and she flinches back.

“Stop calling me that!” he takes another step as Padmé still stumbles back “I am not the weak Jedi they’ve tried to make me! Not anymore!”

He corners Padmé against the wall, pressing his hand on the glass behind her, trapping her with his body without touching her.

“I am Darth Vader, and Palpatine – Darth Sidius – is my master. We will build an empire of peace and justice, and I wish to have you by my side in it.”

Padmé’s eyes are like a cornered animal’s. Her breathing is shallow and she swallows hard.

“Ani, this is not you.” she begs, her voice shaking “This is not you, your master is Obi-Wan, you are a Jedi…”

Vader laughs but there’s no joy in his laughter.

“Jedi” he whispers “Is but a hindrance in the path to the dark side. An easy route, a path for those too weak to reach for real power. I’ve learned that, and soon, Obi-Wan will learn it too.”

Padmé’s eyes are welling up with tears. She pushes Vader’s chest, stumbling away from him.

“If this is what you have become” she sobs, wiping away her tears “Then maybe I shouldn’t have stopped Obi-Wan!”

Vader’s eye goes wide in shock and Padmé muffles another sob, new tears streaming down her cheeks. A light blinks on Vader’s wrist piece and he presses it. Glint, the newly appointed commander speaks in the communication line in Vader’s earpiece.

“Sir, the jedi Kenobi is awake and fully recovered.”

Vader calls for Padmé but she rushing to go back into the room.She stops, but does not turn around to face him.

"The song you were singing to Leia..." she says in a whisper, sniffling "Was it about us? Running away from your master, from Obi-Wan?"

Vader balls his fists and snarls.

"No. It was a song my mother taught me, about running away from our master. As in, our _owner_."

"Anakin..."

"Stop calling me that." snaps Vader to then swallow hard "I will never be a slave again, Padmé. And I won't let Luke and Leia grow up in a galaxy that does this to its people."

Padmé shakes her head, walking back into her room. The glass doors slide closed behind her and Vader presses the button in his wrist piece again.

“Commander Glint, I want four of your best men guarding the entrance to Amidala’s room. Don’t let anyone in… And don’t let her out even if she says I’ve ordered you to.”

The clone’s voice comes in his earpiece:

“Yessir, count on that.”

* * *

 When Darth Vader gets to the west wing of the station where the containment cells are located at, he can hear Obi-Wan’s voice down the stairs.

“You will unlock this door for me.”

Then, as Vader walks slowly down each step, there’s a clone’s voice:

“Give up, jedi. Your fancy mind tricks won’t work as long as you’re wearing those handcuffs.”

There is a pause, and then Obi-Wan’s voice repeats:

“You _will_ unlock this door for me.”

The clone sounds annoyed:

“Are you sure we can’t just put a muzzle on him?”

“That won’t be necessary.” says Vader as he reaches the lower levels

The four troopers guarding Obi-Wan’s cell suddenly straighten themselves up.

“Lord Vader, sir.” they address him, bowing their heads

“At ease.” says Vader, not yet daring look into Obi-Wan’s cell “Is he alright?”

One of the troopers sighs.

“We had to stun him with a shock baton on the way down here. Despite his handcuffs and being unarmed, he tried to fight us. Sent three of our men to the medical ward. But he’s fine, sir, like you have requested. The medical droid says the scarring is deep and permanent, but apparently he’ll have no lasting damage from the wound on his shoulder.”

 _He should thank me for my kindness_ , thinks Vader as he slides a finger over the scar on his own face.

“Very well. Leave us now.”

The clones nod at him.

“Yes sir. Excuse us, sir.”

As the trooper’s steps die away, Vader takes one step ahead at last being able to look into Obi-Wan’s cell through the wide transparent door. Obi-Wan is sitting on his ankles, his back turned to Vader. Vader can’t tell if he’s gazing at the dark grey wall or if his eyes are closed.

“Obi-Wan?” he calls; there’s no answer “Obi-Wan, I know you can hear me. I heard you trying to get the guards to open the door.”

Obi-Wan remains silent and immobile. Vader sighs.

“I heard they had to use a shock baton on you. I’m sorry for that. You should know I’m just trying to help you.”

He expects Obi-Wan to at least scoff defiantly but there’s nothing. Not a single spiteful word, not even a shrug. Vader clenches his jaw.

“You should’ve known it would come to this. You and Qui-Gon brought this upon the republic with your lenience and complacence.” Not even the mention to Obi-Wan’s master draws a reaction out of him “You should’ve known that this delicate balance would collapse at some point. We could’ve avoided the losses, Obi-Wan, we could’ve prevented these deaths if you only had _listened to me all these years._ ”

Obi-Wan doesn’t say a word. The force is bound inside him, restrained by his handcuffs, and Vader can sense it. The same blue glow of calm, serenity and _weakness from the light side._ Vader places a hand on the reinforced glass door.

“Talk to me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You were always so eager to spill your so-called wisdom all the time. To loom above me, telling me of my wrongdoings, correcting my every move. Where is that sharp tongue of yours? _Talk to me_.”

Obi-Wan remains unresponsive, and a tremor passes over Vader’s lips as he scowls.

“Padmé has accepted her allegiance to the Empire. You should know you will have no choice but to do the same. Do you accept your fate?” Obi-Wan’s silence is so unnerving that Vader punches the glass door “Talk to me! I command you to!” Obi-Wan doesn’t even flinch and Vader bares his teeth “Fine! Do as you wish! Rot in here for all I care!”

Darth Vader turns on his heels and takes a step away from the cell but stops; He looks over his shoulder, speaking between his clenched teeth.

“You should know… Padmé has given birth to twins. I’m father to a boy and a girl.”

Vader strides away decisively, and for an instant he believes he hears Obi-Wan letting out a sniffle.


	8. Spend Your Days Full of Emptiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé tries to understand what has happened to the man she used to love. Vader tries to tame the angry tide of feelings inside him. Obi-Wan is withering away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mention a bit of malnourishment and things that might be interpreted as eating disorders and/or suicidal tendencies, so here goes my warning. Check the end of the chapter for more notes.

It has been three days. Padmé was given a beautiful bedroom fully equipped to accommodate both she and the twins. She isn’t stopping Vader from seeing his children and playing with them, but she isn’t talking to him either, no matter how hard he’s been trying to strike a conversation, be it about how beautiful their children are, or about how he wishes to learn how to bathe and change his children’s diapers, for he is their father and wants every share of responsibility too. Padmé scoffs and shows him the water temperature, shows him how to clean and change them, but she uses small words and speaks strictly about the task at hand. Vader can’t make her talk about her feelings or their relationship. It hurts him deeply, and unlike before, when he was a Jedi and had some control over his emotions, now that he is a Sith and wears his heart on his sleeve it feels like Padmé is stabbing him and twisting the blade inside.

Her silent treatment doesn’t change when Vader announces that he will have to leave the base again tonight on Imperial business. It only does change when he tells her he is concerned about Obi-Wan.

“He hasn’t been eating, Padmé. The clones say he hasn’t eaten a single time ever since we placed him in his room.” He won’t use the word _cell_ , despite it being what the place is “He’s growing thin under his robes, and I can't know what he wants since he won't talk to me. Sometimes I think he hasn’t moved ever since he sat down there.”

Padmé raises her eyes from him. The room in which they had set Padmé in the base is simple but still very elegant; Luke and Leia giggle and splash water in the small chromed bathtub they provided the couple’s bathroom with so that they could bathe their children. Despite being twins, Luke and Leia’s behavior is very distinct. Leia seems to be very curious and wants to touch everything around her, while Luke is clingy and seems to be shy.

“Well, maybe I could see him. Talk to him. I…” she delicately washes Leia’s hair while Vader distracts the little girl with his prosthetic hand “I could show him the twins.”

Vader’s loving smile immediately drops to a grimace.

“No. I want him away from my children.”

Padmé picks up a soft white towel, wrapping it around Leia’s little body before lifting her out of the bathtub and handing her over to Vader.

“Dry her while I finish washing Luke.” she orders absently “And they are my children too, _Lord Vader_.”

There’s contempt in the way Padmé speaks his name. Vader sighs, carefully drying Leia’s chubby little arms while she pulls at her father’s dark robes.

“He is dangerous.”

“He is our friend.” Leia is now picking Luke up with a towel, and he cries softly as she holds him close, dabbing the towel on his face in the most delicate manner “And I wish to show him the children to whom I’ve always envisioned him as an uncle.”

“Uncle.” Vader scoffs as he places Leia on a nearby table, picking up her tunics and beginning to dress her up; to appease to Padmé, he had requested the clones to bring them traditional clothes from Naboo for both her and the twins “That traitor is no brother of mine.”

Padmé places Luke next to Leia, dressing him up with some difficulty, for the little boy keeps flapping his arms.

“You have an interesting way of perceiving treason.”

“And you seem to forget he’s kept us apart.” Vader is now carefully tying Leia’s robe

“It was part of his duty” Padmé places Luke’s small coat on his back

“You are always so defensive of Obi-Wan, my dear wife.”

“Perhaps because all he did was help you and protect you during your whole life, dear husband!”

“Well, maybe he wouldn’t have to protect me if the republic have had the courage to kill the separatists once and for all instead of trying to sign treaties that would be trampled over anyway!”

“I’m sorry if diplomacy and basic life rights are so troublesome to you! Why bother discussing politics if you can just send a clone army and make a bloodbath instead?!”

Luke and Leia’s shrill cries interrupt the two of them, and Padmé hastily picks them up in her arms.

“How dare you make me scream in front of them.” she snarls angrily, leaving the bathroom to the well-lit room and sitting down on a very elegant chaise to then rock the twins softly; their screaming doesn’t cease and Padmé coos and shushes them softly to no avail.

Vader feels a vengeful wish to leave the bedroom, leave Padmé all alone with their screaming children but his own attachment to Luke and Leia doesn’t allow him to. There’s also Padmé. All he wishes for is for her to understand that he’s doing what is right for everyone, that he’s sacrificed everything for her, for them. Padmé huffs and shakes her head.

“Sing that song. Is the only thing that always seem to stop them.”

Vader frowns, biting the inside of his cheek to then speak over the chaos of his screaming children.

“You want my tales of slavery, but don’t wish me to slaughter the slave masters across the galaxy. You have a twisted way to entertain yourself, senator.”

Padmé looks at Vader with pain in her features. They had been sleeping in separate beds and the twins wake up every two or three hours every night each in their own pace, so the couple hasn’t been able to sleep for much more than a full hour without being awaken by one of the babies’ cry. The two of them are exhausted and despite Vader’s insistence, Padmé refuses to let a droid help them with the task not even C-3PO. She would trust one of her handmaidens, but never a machine. Vader, however, trusts some machines more than he does people. Padmé sighs sadly as she wipes Leia’s tears.

“Just sing for them. I like to believe you really love them.”

Vader stares at Padmé, and never before had he thought that she’d doubt of his love for their children, or for herself at that. He walks to her, sitting next to her on the chaise and Padmé flinches when his shoulder touches hers. _She fears me. When has it turned to that?_

Vader looks at little Luke’s tears and little Leia’s frown, and he begins to sing over their crying.

 _"See the ships across the sky/someday they will stop close by/We will fly to places yet unseen/misty waterfalls and endless greens/W_ _e’ll be far away across the desert’s sands/_ _l_ _eave the master behind, for he wouldn’t understand/Can we find a place to call home at last/Can we say…”_

Vader trails off to then hum as the twins stop crying to then grab at Padmé’s robes with their little hands, clinging to her. Padmé presses them to her chest.

“You never finish the song.”

Vader doesn’t wish to talk about it, he never did, but having Padmé finally speaking to him about something other than emotionless childcare instructions feels so good that he can bear to lower his defenses for a moment.

“She never did either. Better saying, I’d fall asleep before she did and even if I were to ask her for the end of the song…”

“You can’t.” completes Padmé “I’m sorry.”

Vader stands up to his feet, turning his back on Padmé.

“I must leave for my official duties. My master is busy in Coruscant and as soon as I finish the tasks he assigned me with, we can join him back in the city. I suppose you will be thrilled to be back.”

Padmé rises to her feet too, walking slowly to the twins’ crib and placing them there. She flicks a switch on its side and tiny little silver stars begin to float and dance over the twins as they watch with wonder in their eyes. Padmé hesitates to then walk to Vader. The room is bathed in the window’s artificial light that casts their long shadows on the floor.

“What do your “official duties” consist of?”

“Dull negotiations.” answers Vader promptly “The kind of thing you would enjoy and probably be far better at than I am.”

“Is that all?”

Vader doesn’t answer. Padmé walks to him hesitantly to then stop close to his back, raising her hand very slowly to then grip at the dark fabric of Vader’s robes.

“You are killing the remaining Jedi, aren’t you? That was the Sith’s goal back in the clone wars.”

Vader still doesn’t answer, but Padmé can notice the longer pause in his breathing. Padmé takes a moment before wrapping her arms around Vader’s waist.

“Please, leave this behind. We can escape with Obi-Wan and the kids. We can find somewhere hidden on the Outer Rim, raise Luke and Leia there, away from this conflict. Please.”

Vader swallows hard, putting his own arms over Padmé’s.

“It’s my duty.” he says pointedly “There’s no escaping the Emperor’s side. I know you don’t like him, Padmé, but I will overthrow him as soon as I find an opportunity.”

Padmé tightens her embrace on Vader’s waist.

“So we overthrow the tyrant… And become tyrants ourselves? Don’t you see how this logic is flawed?”

“I will give you logic.” says Vader without skipping a beat as he gestures to Luke and Leia “Wouldn’t you become a tyrant… for them?”

Padmé doesn’t answer, letting go of him. Vader looks at her over his shoulder.

“I must be back tomorrow in the very early morning. Please have threepio and artoo help you with them while I’m gone. They’re not medical droids, but they’re attentive and well-intentioned, and if you can’t trust the base’s droids and the clones, at least you can trust them, can’t you?”

Padmé means to say something, but Vader leaves the room before she can manage to, throwing his cloak over his shoulders. Padmé’s face is glistening with tears as she digs her fingers into her curled hair and whimpers. She is not left alone for long, and soon she hears footsteps approaching in a fast pace. Vader walks back inside with wide strides, rushing to his wife and grabbing her by her waist. Padmé sobs softly as Vader cups her face.

“Say you still love me.” he demands “Say it.”

Padmé shuts her eyes, whimpering.

“I do. I wish I didn’t. But I do.”

Vader smiles, cocking his head to the side and pressing his lips to Padmé’s in a chaste kiss.

“It’s how I felt back then.” he mutters, still close to her “But we’re free now, Padmé. You should set yourself free too.”

Vader caresses Padmé’s face lovingly to then grimace and let go of her.When he turns his back on her and leaves the room for good, Padmé is left in silence and confusion.

* * *

 

Padmé spends the following hours watching over the twins. When C-3PO and R2-D2 walk in the double doors, she smiles at them, but her eyes are sad.

“I suppose Anakin ordered you two to keep an eye on me.”

C-3PO walks stiffly to her, shaking his head.

“Master Vader has only asked us to keep you company so that you wouldn’t feel lonely, senator.”

Padmé sighs, walking away from the large windows.

“So you’re also addressing him by this name?”

“It’s how he expects all to call him now.” agrees C-3PO, his voice piping up as if he wants to distract Padmé from the subject “And I suppose these are little masters Luke and Leia!”

Artoo coos excitedly, rolling over to the children’s crib and C-3PO walks alongside him.

“Would you like me to pick them up for you to see?” asks the golden droid “I think you’re too short to be able to look at them from the floor.”

Artoo beeps in response and Threepio straightens his back stiffly, sounding offended.

“How _dare_ you, of course I wouldn’t let them fall! What? Clumsy? Who do you take me for, Jar Jar Binks?”

Artoo’s beep of agreement doesn’t need to be translated, and Padmé laughs against her will. She watches as Artoo carefully uses his propellers to rise up in the air. His excited chirps  make Luke and Leia giggle, and C-3PO shakes his head.

“Show-off.” he leans over the crib, and Luke’s eyes light up at the sight of him “Oh, goodness gracious, Senator, they are beautiful!”

Artoo floats back down, beeping, and Threepio looks down to him.

“Why, yes, I am very pleased we can agree at one point at last. They _are_ adorable.” He then looks to Padmé “You look… not very happy, if you don’t mind me saying so, Senator. Is there something we can help you with?”

Padmé watches as Luke reaches for Threepio with absolute awe in his eyes.

“I’m fine.” she lies, despite her vision that goes blurry with tears “I-I think he likes you.”

C-3PO turns his permanently wide eyes to Luke, and the boy laughs. Even the love for machines seems to reside in this boy of the making of Anakin Skywalker. A thought crosses Padmé’s mind, and she reaches for her overcoat on a nearby hanger.

“Can you and Artoo watch over them for me?” Padmé pulls a small communicator out of her pocket “Anakin… Vader uses this to talk to me when he has to.” _Or at least he used to_ “Artoo, I want you to call me if you need anything, ok? They’ve just been fed and should sleep soon, but if they cry, if anything happens, _call me._ Do you understand?”

Artoo beeps in agreement, but C-3PO’s eyes flicker with surprise.

“Wait. Senator, where are you going? Master Vader told us you weren’t supposed to leave this room.”

Padmé put her coat on and crossed her arms, looking at Threepio with one eyebrow up.

“What will you do? Stop me?”

“Well” Threepio sounds staggered for a moment “W-well, I would really like to avoid any…”

“Good, me too.” says Padmé as she turns her back on him, walking towards the doors “Wait here and don’t leave them alone.”

“Ah… Senator!” cries Threepio to no avail “Miss Padmé! Don’t go!”

Padmé walks out of the room, leaving the distressed droid behind. When she takes the first step out, however, the four clones guarding her door turn to her at the same time.

“Lady Amidala, is there anything you need?” asks one of them, who is wearing an armor with red details “My name is Kip. I’m a sergeant and I’m in charge of your security.”

Padmé straightens her back, looking at the trooper’s eyes. He has the same face of Captain Rex, or Commander Cody’s, or any other clone trooper’s.

“Well it’s lovely to meet you, sergeant Kip,” she says dryly “but I do not need security.”

Kip nods curtly.

“I hear you, milady, but we need to keep you under watch. These are lord Vader’s orders.” he gives her a tentative half-smile “Is there anything you need? Whatever you want we shall provide you with in the shortest notice, milady.”

Padmé takes one step ahead, and the clones line up forming a wall in front of her.

“I need fresh air. You can’t expect me to be cooped up in this bedroom all day long until…” she uses Anakin’s words “until the ‘moment of transition’ to the Empire ceases.”

“I must ask you to please remain in your quarters, milady.”

Padmé scowls stomping her foot on the floor.

“I will not be kept prisoner by you people! Move out of my way!” she pushes the clone hard on his chest, trying to move past him; Kip grabs her wrist and Padmé fights against his grip. “Unhand me! You have no right to touch me!”

“I’m sorry, but you are not allowed to leave this area, Milady.” says the sergeant holding Padmé where she is

Padmé is still pulling back, trying to get as far from her bedroom door as the clone will allow her to.

“I will not get back into that room until I can speak to Obi-Wan!”

Kip is clearly making an effort to hold Padmé in place without hurting her.

“You are absolutely not allowed to be even near the holding cells, until Lord Vader returns to the base, Milady.”

Padmé’s eyes go wide. _Holding cells._ Anakin is keeping Obi-Wan prisoner in the base She had hoped he’d be treating his old master like he had been doing _herself_ , scared and confused but in a bedroom with some comfort. She never had expected Anakin to throw Obi-Wan Kenobi into a cell. With a violent pull, she manages to free herself off the clone’s hand and before he can reach for her, she races down the hallway without looking back. She can hear the clone sergeant barking orders behind her and turns left on another corridor, entering the second door she’d run past. She hears the clones’ hurried steps and their voices demanding “Find her!” as the automatic doors shut behind her. Padmé takes cover behind a column, and when a trooper opens the door, poking his head inside, she waits. The clone leaves in a hurry, and Padmé starts walking down the dark corridor.

It takes her a long time walking through the base, hiding in vents and behind cargo boxes whenever a patrol of clones would approach her. In the end, she finds a descending staircase and walks down slowly. She can hear people talking downstairs. Clones.

“Maybe we could leave him here and join the search party. Lord Vader will cut our heads off if he comes back to find out his friend is missing.”

“Why are we taking care of a Senator and a Jedi anyway? Aren’t they the enemies of the Empire?”

“Look, we’re here to follow orders. We’ve all seen what happened to Boil when he failed his mission. Last thing I want is a lightsaber through my chest.”

“Point taken.” one of them sighs “Fine, we join the search party. Mr. Jedi here isn’t going anwhere like that anyway.”

Padmé hears their footsteps approaching and covers her head with the hood of her long coat, hiding again behind a column and holding in her breath. The six clones walk past her in duos, not seeing her in the shadows for being in such a hurry, but as soon as they turn their back on her and Padmé takes two steps down as silently as she can, she has to hide behind the following column; one of the troopers is looking exactly where she had been hiding.

“Something wrong?” asks one of the other troopers

“Ah, dunno. Thought I’d got a thermal reading but there’s nothing.”

Their chatter resume, and they leave without looking back again. Padmé gets to the lower levels, walking around a small hallway illuminated by a sterile white light. She walks past what seems to be a holding cell, probably for keeping any criminals captured in an attempt to attack the base. There’s another one ahead, and another. When she’s about to walk past the fourth one of them, she sees a shadow inside and double takes, stopping dead on her tracks and looking properly at who’s in there. She sees the white robes and the light brown hair, and the air sits still in her lungs.

Obi-Wan.

She walks to the reinforced glass, pressing her hands to it.

“Obi-Wan!” she calls “Obi-Wan, are you alright?!”

Obi-Wan doesn’t turn to face her. He remains still, looking at the grey wall in front of him, and Padmé slaps her hands on the glass twice.

“Obi-Wan, talk to me! What is Anakin doing?! I’m scared!”

At his former apprentice’s name, Obi-Wan straightened his back, but did not turn to face her.

“How am I supposed to know?” he asks dryly, and his voice sounds hoarse, unused “I am not allowed out of this cell. I’ve been trapped here for days as your beloved one comes down here every night in order to list down the names of the Jedi he’s slain to his own dark amusement. I've been starving myself in the hope of dying faster, and withering away at the thought of you turning into an Imperial General and raising your children to become the same.”

Padmé’s eyes go wide and she shakes her head violently.

“No… No, Obi-Wan, I want none of this! I’m scared of what Anakin has become, you have to listen to me…!”

“There’s no Anakin.” Obi-Wan states it in a flat and tired voice “This… Darth Vader killed him. This Sith Lord wearing Anakin’s face has murdered my apprentice under Palpatine’s orders.”

“No!” Padmé’s sight gets blurry with tears that stream down her face “No, he’s there, he’s still there, somewhere, but we need to help him find it! We need to destroy this sith lord and save our Anakin and our Republic! This is all I want, but I’ll need your help to do it!”

Obi-Wan’s back remains turned to Padmé. She wipes her eyes, sobbing.

“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi!” she pleads “You’re my only hope for saving my husband!”

Obi-Wan slowly gets up to his feet, stumbling a little bit, and he turns to face Padmé. The robes are hanging loosely on his body, and his shoulder bones are projecting under the fabric. As he walks closer to Padmé, she can see that his cheeks seem slightly hollowed, and there are heavy dark circles under his eyes, not to mention how red and puffy they seem to be. Three days of maulnorishment wouldn’t cause this amount of damage – Padmé is sure that Obi-Wan’s sadness and grief over his supposedly dead apprentice is what has taken its toll on the Jedi knight.

Obi-Wan walks to the glass, his eyes low and his voice raspy.

“He said you wanted to be part of the Empire.”

Padmé shakes her head vehemently.

“That’s what he wants. Not what I want.”

Obi-Wan raise his blue eyes up to hers and a very small smile curves the corners of his dried up lips.

“I’m glad to see innocence still lives in your eyes. I was worried Darth Vader had drown you in darkness as he did Anakin.” He places his hand on the glass, over Padmé’s palm on the other side “It’s good to see you are still you, my good friend.”

Padmé smiles between her tears.

“Oh, Obi-Wan, your skin is stretching over your bones. You need to eat, to rest. I must get you out of here.”

Obi-Wan pulls his hand away, shaking his head. His voice sounds weary like an old man’s.

“I wanted to just wither away and die, Padmé. I failed as a jedi. I failed as a master.” Before Padmé can answer, he continues “But you’ve made me see the light again. You said I was your only hope, but you turned out to be mine.”

Padmé laughs out of pure joy at these words, and Obi-Wan strokes his beard pensively.

“Anakin… Vader mentioned you’ve given birth to twins.”

“Luke and Leia.” Padmé nods, still smiling “You’ve got to meet them.”

Obi-Wan smiles, and it is like his usual light is back in his eyes.

“I have an idea for an escape plan, but is risky. Do you think you can get hold of my lightsaber?”

Padmé’s eyes go wide.

“What do you plan to do?”

“Get you and the children out of here, of course.” Obi-Wan knits his brows “I recognized this base the second we landed here, I know exactly where we can escape to from here.”

“What of Anakin?”

“He’s no longer Anakin, Padmé.”

“I can still feel good in him, Obi-Wan.” presses Padmé “I won’t abandon him!”

Padmé hears footsteps behind her, and before she can react she hears a clone’s voice.

“I found her! On the lower levels!”

Padmé sees the clone across the long corridor of cells and she looks at Obi-Wan one last time before trying to make a run for it, but there are guards arriving on the other side, as well as down the stairs where she had come from. Two troopers approach her quickly, holding her back by her shoulders.

“Don’t hurt her!” snarls Obi-Wan aggressively “Leave her alone!”

“Shut up, Jedi.” orders the commander in charge to then turn to Padmé “Milady, you’ve caused us a great concern. I beg you to return to your rooms. Lord Vader will be back in the early morning, and until then you may ask us for anything you need.”

Padmé tries to break free, but Obi-Wan shakes his head in defeat.

“Do as they say, Padmé. Think of the children.”

Padmé bows her head, allowing herself to be led away by the troopers.

“I’m so sorry, Obi-Wan.”

* * *

Padmé was woken up by Luke’s crying and Artoo beeps nervously. She sits up on her bed, rubbing the sleep of her eyes. Leia had waken her up a few hours prior, and if she didn’t fetch Luke quickly, his crying would wake his sister up. Padmé got to her feet, rushing to the babies’ crib and picking the boy up.

“I know, I know…” she coos, carrying him to her chaise and tugging at her robes, letting them fall down her shoulder and holding Luke close to her naked breast “There, there, little one. I know you’re hungry.”

Luke takes a few moments before he places his mouth against his mother’s skin, but when he does, the crying ceases immediately. Padmé smiles to herself, feeling the boy’s warmth against her body.

“You’re a beautiful little boy, Luke.” she whispers while she breastfeeds her son “Your father used to be a beautiful boy too. I wonder what happened to him. I wonder if I can help him.”

After Luke falls asleep in her arms, Padmé hears aggravated voices outside. She gets up to her feet, placing the boy back in his crib beside his sister and whispers to R2-D2:

“Artoo, watch over them.”

R2-D2 beeps reassuringly, and Padmé nods, walking towards the doors. She is right, she can hear a man’s distressed voice as she presses her ear to the dark glass. It's one of the clones.

“She was not harmed, sir, we returned her to her room as soon as we found her.”

The next voice is so angry, so full of spite and hate that it takes a second for Padmé to recognize it as Anakin’s. She still thinks of him as Anakin. Darth Vader is a creation of his, a mask he hides himself behind, but that man is still her Anakin Skywalker.

“And where did you let her go, commander?”

“I…” the clone sounds terrified “She went to the lower levels, sir. We got her in front of the Jedi’s holding cell.”

Padmé hears something colliding hard against a wall followed by a pained grunt.

“You let her get to Kenobi?!” Anakin snarls while the clone coughs helplessly “You let my _wife_ get close to that _jedi scum_?!”

Padmé opens the doors with a firm push, and they slide open to reveal a squad of clone troopers surrounding Anakin. He's dressed in the long black robes with which Padmé can't get used to and he's stretching his hand to the clone commander she had met earlier. The man is clearly being pushed against the wall by Anakin’s Force, and he coughs as if Anakin’s clenching fingers are squeezing his throat. Anakin looks at Padmé, his face still twisted in anger, and his good eye is burning yellow whereas the damaged one only has the red rim surrounding the white blind iris.

“Anakin, let him go!” she demands angrily

Anakin ignores her, pressing the clone harder against the wall. The man’s face is turning to a sickly purple shade, and he coughs harder. The Sith Lord bares his teeth.

“She could’ve been hurt, she could’ve left the base, she could’ve _died!”_

“I got out on my own will!” Padmé exclaims _“Let him go, Anakin!”_

Anakin’s breathing is rapid and shallow, and the clone’s arms fall to his side. The commander seems to be inches away from losing his senses and a few more inches away from dying. Padmé screams:

“Darth Vader, I beg you to stop this!”

Oddly enough, Anakin’s yellow eyes flicker back to normal at his Sith name on Padmé’s voice, and he lets go of the commander. The clone drops down, coughing painfully, and his colleagues don’t help him up, clearly waiting for further instructions. Anakin turns to Padmé and walks fast to her, his breathing still ragged and shallow as he embraces his wife and kisses her head over her curls.

“I told you to wait for me, love.” he hugs her so tight it hurts “I told you to wait. Why don’t you ever stay put?”

Anakin smells of sweat and leaves, and he clings to her as if he’s just saved her from a burning building. Padmé winces, pulling away slowly.

“Leave the commander alone.” she asks quietly “We need to talk.”

Anakin looks at her while the anger in his eyes is still subsiding. Without another word, he walks past her, striding into the bedroom. Padmé glances at the clones over her shoulder and grimaces.

“I’m so sorry.” she says, following him inside.

Anakin is nowhere in the bedroom, and as Padmé hears the water running, she walks into the adjoined bathroom. Anakin has his back turned to her and is undressing himself as the large bathtub gets filled with water. He lets his robes slide down his broad shoulders as he unties his outer belt.

“I just need a bath.” Anakin mutters without turning to her “Stinking of sweat and dirt and…”

Padmé sees Anakin’s elbows are bruised and darkened with coagulated blood, and his prosthetic hand is slightly dented on the side. There are red, angry bruises across his back, and a circular fresh wound that looks like a blaster shot. When Anakin finally wrestles free of his clothes he winces, and his breathing hitches. Padmé can’t take her eyes off his prosthetic leg – she hadn’t seen it until then.

“Are you alright?!” asks Padmé in bewilderment “What happened?!”

Anakin tenses his jaw, and Padmé can notice the way he bites his lip while he slowly lowers himself in the warm water.

“Nothing. It’s part of my duty.”

Padmé feels a shiver running down her spine.

“Did… Did the Jedi do that?”

* * *

Vader lowers his eyes to the water, looking at his prosthetic leg, as its image dances under the ripples in the surface. He places his hands under the water to then wash his face; His upper lip is cut from the inside and he can taste the blood.

_Blue light, green light, screams, angry eyes…_

“Yes.” he answers at last “Did you expect them to go down easily?”

_Fighting stances, brown cloaks, tears streaming down their faces…_

Padmé clamps her mouth shut and Vader knows she’s torn between being glad for her husband's return and wishing the Jedi could’ve managed to kill him. Her lips may be sealed, but there are no lies in the Force.

“Did you…” Padmé hesitates “Did you kill them?”

_‘betrayed us betrayed us betrayed us!’_

_Did it echo in my ears, or did they repeat it over and over?_

“Yes” he answers daftly

_‘how could you how could you how could you!’_

_I think it just echoed._

Vader stares at the shimmering water. He can still smell the scent of the grass in which he had to roll in order to avoid the Jedi’s attack, he can still feel the tiredness of the battle in his bones. He believes that if he closes his eyes, he’ll be able to even hear the sound of lightsabers colliding.

“I located two.” He says, and he doesn’t know why he does, for he’s sure that Padmé doesn’t wish to know any details regarding his bloody crusade “But one of them escaped. He was very injured, I don’t think he would've survived.”

The echoes keep ringing in his ears. His body feels numb and heavy in the water.

_‘Supposed to be brothers brothers brothers!...’_

_‘He’s a sith now sith now sith now!_

_Run run run!_

_I’ll hold him off off off!’_

Vader washes his arms now, cleans the dirt and stray grass bits off it, pulls at the dried up blood clotting on his elbows and looks at the fresh blood that comes from under it with a morbid curiosity. He looks at the damage done to his prosthetic hand.

‘ _Leave him alone, he’s just a padawan padawan padawan!…’_

_The death gurgle echoes in my mind too, I wonder when will it stop._

_Mace’s scream keeps echoing too. I wish it would just stop as well._

Padmé crosses her arms, rubbing them as if she’s cold.

“Did they do this to your back? It looks bad.”

Vader’s eyes grow wide and he draws a sharp breath, whimpering.

_'Weak, pathetic thing, how dare you leave a padawan run away, you were lucky to have a trooper execute him before he could escape, your master should’ve killed you when he had the chance, I will show you real pain…!'_

Vader doesn’t know if Sidius’ voice being the only one not to echo in his head sounding actually crystal clear is something good or bad so he just runs his wet fingers over his forehead, wiping his hair from his face.

“Yes.” he lies “Yes, it was the Jedi.”

It feels like Sidius’ lightning is still flashing in his brain, and Vader shivers. He hears a baby crying softly a bit far from them, followed by Artoo's distressed beeps, and Padmé glances over her shoulder to the bedroom.

“I’ll check on them and then we’ll talk.”

Padmé leaves Vader and the sith lord holds his head in his hands. The way Qui-Gon Jinn and Yoda had mentioned a jedi turning to dark had always made him feel as if the dark side of the force was a place in which you would fall hard and fast, like someone jumping off a cliff. But rather, it was like being continuously and thoroughly burned alive.

Vader saw the ripples in the water and didn’t bother wiping his face off the tears that caused them. The Jedi’s voice still rings in his ear, as the sight of the trail of blood left behind by his wounded padawan was seared to Vader’s eyelids. He pulls his knees to himself, shivers running down his spine. When a Jedi died, the other members of the order would usually say “may the force the with you” and have positive thoughts regarding the fallen warrior. Vader felt like it would be the ultimate disrespect trying to do the same when he was no longer a Jedi, so instead, he whispered a sith phrase taught by Palpatine.

“The Force shall set me free”, at that, his mind didn’t feel so cloudy, and the echoes in his ears weren’t so deafening “The Force shall set me free. The Force shall set me free. The Force shall…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We also have a bit of dissociation and PTSD here. Force-choking also takes place in this chapter, and since I don't know if this is a problem, breastfeeding is mentioned too, although very shortly. I'm still trying to get used to the tagging system bc I'm writing this fic as I go, but I'll try my best. Please let me know if anything in my writing triggers you.


	9. The Past Gnawing At Your Neck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka, Rex and Maul finally reach the place in which Rex expects to find some much needed help. Darth Vader makes another attempt at turning Obi-Wan Kenobi to the Dark Side.

Ahsoka pulls at the lever with all her might as the damaged ship comes down hard into Kamino. Rex flicks most of the switches in front of him and grits his teeth.

“Brace for impact!”

Maul points a thumb over his shoulder. The dathomirian seems not to be even close to being worried.

“Why not leave in the escape pods?”

Ahsoka is still pulling at the levers to no avail. Their breaks are gone and one of their ship’s wings had begun to burn as soon as they reached the planet’s atmosphere.

“They’re damaged! Will most likely explode if we try to use them!”

“The question is” says Rex calm as if going nose-first towards the ground on a stolen aircraft was something he would be doing for the millionth time in his life “won’t this bucket do the same?!”

Ahsoka looks at Rex with her best half-smile.

“Let’s hope not!” she looks at the green forest approaching far faster than she would’ve want it to “Metal Legs, you better hang on.”

Maul scowls, steadying himself with the Force. When the crash does come, tearing down the trees ahead and lighting a good amount of them on fire, Ahsoka grunts and Rex does the same  while the impact makes their heads whip forward, almost hitting their faces at the panels. Ahsoka blacks out for an instant, and when she comes to, the ship has finally stopped moving. She tries to turn to Rex, coughing, but her neck hurts so much that she gives up on looking at the trooper.

“Rex,” she coughs “are you alright?”

Rex grunts something in response and Ahsoka can feel the side of her face going numb. She lets her head fall to her seat’s headrest, breathing hard. Ahsoka wishes to help Rex out but everything hurts from the impact and something sharp feels to be cutting at her legs. She hears Rex’s cough growing fainter under the sound of an object being dragged on the ship’s floor and shortly after, she hears the sound of the lightsaber being ignited. The red light shines even from behind her closed eyelids, and she can hear Maul’s amused tone:

“The metal bent and fused under the landing heat. I’ll have to cut at it to get you out.”

Ahsoka means to say “no” but all that came out was a pained groan. She hears the lightsaber whooshing  very fast really close to her body, and the thing that had been cutting at her legs finally stop doing so. She hears Darth Maul’s saber being turned off, and then she feels his gloved hands reaching for the back of her coat, pulling her down from her seat to the floor in the least careful way. Maul drags her out of the ship like one would do an object, and when they are already under the pale moonlight outside, Ahsoka slaps his hand off.

“I can walk by myself.” she hisses stumbling up to her feet

“You’re welcome.” Maul growls, looking down at Rex, who’s on one of his knees, coughing; Maul straightens his back, drawing his lightsaber “We’ve got company.”

Ahsoka can sense them too, circling the crashed ship and the trio standing by it. It’s a large group, coming from the shadows of the trees that still surround them. Ahsoka draws out her lightsabers, and, not believing herself, stands with her back turned on Maul’s, expecting him to cover for her.

“How many?”

Ahsoka looks at the shadows approaching and recognizes the white armors, and so does Darth Maul.

“Clone troopers.” Maul snarls “I got six in front of me. I can feel more approaching from the flanks.”

Ahsoka looks around intently.

“I see seven, maybe eight in front of me. I feel others getting closer.”

Maul’s voice is eerily calm now.

“Go for the joints. Their armor is weaker between the plates.”

“We are not attacking these men without negotiating, Metal-Legs! Just because they were acting weird in Mandalore, it doesn’t mean that they’re all haywire!”

“Your compassion is not my problem, Jedi. I will wipe these men out of my way and get moving without you two if I have to.”

Rex gets up to his feet, his blaster still in his hand.

“This won’t be necessary.” he walks past Ahsoka, towards the men that approach them still, and now they are close enough for Ahsoka to see their helmets. They really were clone troopers. “They’re in peace.”

The clone closer to them doesn’t look so peaceful with the huge weapon he carries, a repetition blaster that could wipe an entire platoon of clankers in seconds.

“Who are you?” demands the armed clone “Identify yourself!”

Rex holsters his blaster, and Ahsoka calls his name in an interrogative groan, but the captain ignores her.

“I’m a brother like you.”

Rex slowly raises his hand to his helmet, pulling it out to reveal his stern face.

That doesn’t seem to put most of the clones at ease, but the one closer to them lets his big gun fall off his hands with a loud thud, gasping. He grabs his own helmet, yanking it off his head and revealing the face of a clone with tousled brown hair and a bit of a receding hairline.

“Rex?...” he knits his brow and looks up to Ahsoka and Maul, then back down to his weapon as if he wishes he hand let go of it “what are you doing here?”

Rex holds his helmet under his arm, looking at the clones that still surround them.

“We need your help, Cut.”

Ahsoka takes a step ahead, and she hears the guns clicking in response. She turns to look at Rex, lowering her voice.

“Rex, if these men are clones…”

“It’s okay, they’re good.” Rex answers promptly “I trust them.”

Cut raises a hand to the men around them, and they lower their weapons, although they are still on guard.

“I will help you, Rex.” he says cautiously “But first I need to know who these two are.”

Rex places his free hand on Ahsoka’s shoulder.

“This is general Tano, a Jedi. She’s loyal, brave and trustworthy, and she can knock out more targets than ten of us in half the time.”

“Rex” Ahsoka whispers “I’m not exactly…”

“It would take too long to explain.” Rex cuts her off in the same tone “‘Jedi’ sounds good enough.”

Cut looks at Ahsoka and then nods at Maul.

“What of him?” he grimaces “I must say that I don’t like his face.”

“Nobody does.” Ahsoka agrees “He’s…not a friend.”

The men promptly point their guns at him. Maul snarls and positions his lightsaber in front of himself, ready to deflect any blaster shot aimed at him.

“Prisoner?” Cut asks sharply

Rex and Ahsoka look at each other.

“Technically…” begins Rex

“Well, but he _did_ help us.” Ahsoka points in mild annoyance

“We wouldn’t _need_ help if _he_ hadn’t started that mess.”

“Point taken.” Ahsoka sighs

“I say we tie this madman up.”

“Hey, I like him as much as you do, but he trusted us back there. Maybe we could show some trust too.”

Rex looks at Ahsoka’s blue eyes and sighs. General Kenobi was too cautious, General Skywalker was too reckless and General Tano had always been too kind for her own good.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Rex looks at Darth Maul “Can’t you just turn this thing off?”

The dathomirian still has his lightsaber on and his feet are positioned in a battling stance. His yellow eyes dart to the clones surrounding him and he clenches his jaw.

“You know we won’t attack you.” tries Ahsoka “Trust us.”

There is a long pause before the red light recedes back into the lightsaber’s grip and Maul straightens his back, looking Ahsoka in the eye.

“I trust no one, Jedi. And one day, should you live long enough, you shall learn to do the same.”

There is brief silence at that, and Rex turns to Cut.

“Just keep an eye on him. He’s not exactly an example of good behavior.”

Cut nods.

“Will do. Your… friend can go ahead of us.” Cut gestures at his men and three of them position themselves behind Darth Maul, and the Sith looks at them defiantly over his shoulder as Cut speaks “We should head back to the village, and then maybe you can tell me what’s going on here.”

Maul takes his first few strides ahead, and the group turns their backs to the ship’s wreckage, Ahsoka and Rex walking beside Cut as Darth Maul walks in front of them, guarded by the other clones. Ahsoka looks at Rex.

“So, who are these men? What are they doing here?”

Cut snorts.

“So you really didn’t tell anyone.”

“Of course I didn’t.” says Rex “I don’t break my promises, you should know that.”

Cut nods, looking at the men ahead.

“You’re right.”

 

When they get far enough from the woods, Ahsoka sees a small village made of little cottages. There are other clones there, as well as twi’leks, and they all look at the newcomers with curiosity in their eyes. A purple-skinned twi’lek walks to them, smiling to the clone named Cut to then frown for a few instants at Rex.

“Are you… Are you Rex?”

Rex nods, giving a small smile.

“It’s been a while, mrs. Lawquane.”

The twi’lek gives him a wide smile and places a hand on his shoulder.

“You should call me Suu. It’s very good to see you again, Cut didn’t tell me we would have visitors.” she turns to Ahsoka and Darth Maul, still smiling “And who are your friends?”

“This is Ahsoka Tano” Rex gestures at her “and the other one… Just don’t let your children get close to him.”

Suu looks at Maul for a moment, and he returns her look with yellow eyes that are hollow of any warmth. Her smile is not so wide now.

“‘Children’, you say” she looks back at Rex, and Ahsoka wonders if she's trying not to look very disturbed by Darth Maul’s presence “You clearly forgot how long has it been since you were last here.”

The door to the house behind Suu opens up and a female teenage twi’lek walks out along a male that seems to be not much younger than her.

“Mother, did father see what was the explosion in the woods?” says the girl, walking up to Suu and Cut; she sees Rex and frowns at him just like her mother had done “Mr. Rex?”

Rex’s eyes are wide in surprise.

“You can’t be little Shaeeha.” he looks at the boy and scoffs weakly “And you can’t be Jek. No way, you can’t have grown so much.”

The two of them jump to hug Rex tightly.

“It’s been so long! We missed you!” they say, and Rex smiles tenderly at that

Ahsoka crossed her arms, beaming at Rex.

“You have got to tell me what’s going on and why these two seem to absolutely love you.”

 

When they get inside, Suu invites them for dinner, and Ahsoka compliments her for the delicious food. Suu thanks her to then ask timidly:

“Won’t that man join us for dinner?”

Ahsoka looks up to Maul’s silluete against the moonlight that entered the window. The sith had requested – more like just flat out stated – not to be taking part in their dinner. Ahsoka can’t see his face for he has his back turned on them, and she wonders if he would be hungry. For a moment, she feels concerned for him.

Then she remembered what he had done to Qui-Gon Jinn, and the moment was over.

“Leave him.”

Cut finished his dinner and brought his fingers together, looking up to Rex on the seat across his own.

“Rex, I believe it’s time we talk about what’s happening.”

Rex finished chewing his last bit and nodded, putting his fork down.

“Yes, it is.”

“What’s going on? We don’t have many people coming and going out of here, but the news got this far. About a new Empire, as they call it. Where are your men in this?”

Rex seems pensive.

“I don’t know of this Empire, but I suppose it’s what has been issued after the coup.”

“So there was a coup.”

“Yes.”

“Who could be behind this? The separatists?”

Rex shakes his head.

“I have no idea, but my hunch says it’s the Sith.”

Jek’s voice pipes up:

“What’s a Sith?”

Cut looks intently at his wife, and Suu get up from the table.

“Okay, you two, I need your help tidying up our guests’ room, c’mon up.”

Shaeeha and Jek protest.

“Aw mum, we wanna hear the stories!”

“Nothing cool ever happens in this rock!”

Suu hardens her tone.

“Upstairs with me. Now.”

They walk out of the room dragging their feet, and Suu looks at her husband and Rex one last time before she leaves. Cut scratches his chin.

“So it’s some jedi mess.” he looks at Ahsoka “No offense, miss.” he turns to Rex “Were our brothers caught in the crossfire?”

Rex grits his teeth.

“Our brothers _were_ the crossfire.”

“What?”

Rex pokes a finger to his head.

“I was right, Cut. The chips, they used it to control us. The troopers aren’t listening to orders, or pleas, or anything except for the orders of whoever is pulling their strings. They’re acting like blastin' _droids_ , shooting to kill at our former allies. They’re killing Jedi, they’re killing the politicians, it’s madness.”

Cut rubs his own forehead as if ants are walking over it.

“What?” he grimaces “It can’t be. Rex, we’re all clones here, we were all bred the same way. If what you’re saying is true, we would’ve joined the Empire too. Are you sure it’s not just treason?”

“My men don’t commit treason.” Rex spits angrily “My men don’t shoot Jedi from their backs, they have honor, they have conscience.”

Cut sounds almost apologetic:

“What makes you so sure? _You_ didn’t go turncoat.”

Rex lowers his eyes.

“That’s because I removed my own chip. They can’t control _me.”_

Cut knits his brows, scratching his head.

“And us…?”

“You live in the Outer Rim in absolute secret and you, as the men I’ve sent here, are presumed dead. The Empire, or whatever they call it, won’t go looking for dead soldiers. Your men are safe.”

At this point, Ahsoka leans over the table.

“Now, wait a minute. Rex, you haven’t explained to me what is this place.”

Rex looks at Cut for a moment to then look at Ahsoka on his left.

“Cut is a deserter. He left after an attack from the separatists to his ship and since we couldn’t make a body count of the men that were boarding the destroyed ship, he was presumed dead, but he managed to escape to this planet. He met Suu and married her, adopted her children as his own. Cut says he was exercising his right to choose, and I’ll let you be the judge of whether he acted right or not. It’s not exactly a question of black and white morality. I’ve learned that much.”

Ahsoka is pensive, looking at Cut’s face.

“It really isn’t. Like everything in this war.” she doesn’t say if she believes that he is right or wrong, however; instead, she asks “And the others?”

Rex grimaces.

“The first one I sent here was Pipe. I found him out of curfew, trying…” he sighs “trying to kill himself.”

Ahsoka clamps a hand over her mouth and Cut frowns.

“Yeah, I still remember the day you sent him here. Poor kid was messed up good.”

Rex nods, turning to Ahsoka.

“The Republic didn’t do much when it came to the soldier’s mental health. We are bred to do this. We live our entire lives dedicated to fighting and serving the republic since the day we are born. And if your sense of purpose gets lost along the way…”

“We have no families” Cut completes it “No life outside the troops. We have nothing of our own. It’s easy to end up far too deep in your head when you have nothing.”

“We have our duty.” Rex says, his tone suddenly sharp

“And when that is not enough?” Cut asks him, not sounding so calm either

There is silence as the men stare at each other, and Cut turns to Ahsoka, asking:

“What do you think that happens to a soldier that is perhaps too sensible for his own good? Someone who sees a family in a platoon, father-like figures in their generals, home in their military base? How bad do your think a person like this gets messed when he sees a clanker explode the brother with whom he would get along the best with? Some endure everything this war tosses at them and move on, become ARC troopers and all that, but if a shiny can’t handle the weight of it all…”

Cut trails off and Ahsoka runs a finger on the rim of her glass and bites her lip, looking at Rex.

“This… this is horrible. But I still can’t imagine you of all people shipping clones off to this planet and faking their deaths, Captain. It’s just that… you were always so stuck to the rules, just like Dogma.”

Rex turns away from Ahsoka.

“I was. Pipe was the first I sent here, but he wasn’t the first I caught trying to kill himself. There were… three prior to him. First one’s number was 10226, codename Mick. I was on my way with Cody to rescue the survivors of a brutal separatist assault at one of our bases and he was the last one standing among a pile of corpses of our brothers, shooting at the clankers that still surrounded him. We helped him get rid of them, I got to him, told him he was safe. He took off his helmet, smiled at us all giddy then pointed his blaster against his head and pulled the trigger. The other one was 10421, codename Chilly. He was a good trooper, but lost it when one of his batch brothers died in a separatist attack to Coruscant. Fives found him the next day hanging from a rope he’d tied to the pipes on our base’s lower levels. And then there was 10266, codename Rattle. He tried it drinking down fuel, but we managed to pump his stomach empty and save him. The next day, he escaped the medical ward and jumped out of a watch tower.”

Rex makes a pause and sighs, continuing:

“So when I saw Pipe trying to shoot his own head, I didn't want him to end like the others. I sent him on a last mission, filed the reports saying that he died there and we were unable to retrieve the body; found an outside man to ship him here to Cut. Next thing I know, I started doing this for every kid trying to jump off the main building or toying with a charged blaster. I…” he paused “I knew it wasn’t right but it didn’t felt wrong either.”

Silence followed Rex’s story, and Cut got up of his chair.

“I need a drink, and I think you do too, Rex ol’ boy.”

Ahsoka got up too.

"I think you two need some time to catch up. I'll help Soo upstairs."

 

Darth Maul has been sent to the same barn in which Rex had rest during his emergency stay at the Lawquanes’, guarded by six former troopers who had been warned to avoid engaging in the case he attacked, calling for Rex and Ahsoka should the need arise. Rex, however, worries about the conditions in which his aim might get after Cut pours him what is most likely the third or fourth glass of something that finally seem to have made his shoulders lose some tension.

“What happened three years ago, when you sent me about ten troopers just a few weeks apart?”

Rex lowers his eyes. Umbara.

“We had a tough assignment. And a traitor in charge of us.”

Cut sips a bit of his drink, shaking his had.

“Blast it. How did that turn out?”

Rex thinks of Hardcase and Waxer. He thinks of Fives and his bravery, thinks of Dogma and his well-timed action.

“Bad. We lost too many, and the ones who survived were cut too deep.”

Cut looks up at Rex as the captain drinks.

“But not you?”

“I can’t afford to get hurt, Cut. I’m not a shiny. Those men depend... depended on me.”

“But you were hurt.” says Cut knowingly “I can see it in your face.”

“Yeah? So what?” Rex turns his eyes away “It doesn’t matter. I let it go, I didn’t hold on to it. We lose men all the time, if I let it hurt me every time a good man like Hardcase _explodes himself_ to save countless others…”

“But it’s not right, and you know it.” Cut’s tone is louder now “They never had a choice, you never had a choice. And I am your clone too, Rex, I know how you think and I know some part of you wished to turn your back on all of this.”

“It not about me!” Rex doesn’t realize he is screaming, doesn’t realize he’s getting up to his feet and slamming his hands on the table, making the clear liquid dance around the rim of his glass “I could care _blastin’_ less about my life, but those man have a duty to fight for the republic and I’m the only one who can take care of them, so I put my chest open in front of heavy gunfire to protect them but they keep falling around me, going up in pieces, getting hit by grenades and blasters, shot dead by their own brothers in a war that never ends!”

Rex is huffing, short of breath, and he tenses his jaw up. His voice falls down to something short from a hissed whisper that comes from between his teeth.

“One of the bravest soldiers I knew died in my arms from my own men’s blaster shots when our general set us up on each other. He was scared. Crying.”

Cut raises his eyes to meet Rex’s.

“Rex. You’ve done enough. Maybe it’s time for you to settle down here. It’s a good life, two of the men you’ve sent are married, the soil is good for planting and the place is safe from the separatists because we are all trained in combat. Do as we have, take off the armor and try to find the man under it.”

Rex presses his lips into a thin line.

“I can’t. There’s too much at stake. I’m the only living clone trooper who knows of the chips.”

Cut gets up.

“Rex, who do you fight for?”

Rex knits his brows.

“The Republic.”

“What if this doesn’t exist anymore?”

Rex clicks his tongue.

“Then I fight for my brothers.”

“They’re gone, Rex. They became mere pawns in this Separatist game, you said it yourself.”

“I can save them.” Rex clenches his fist “If I get the Jedi’s help, I can save them. I’m not giving up on them.”

Cut sighs and gives him a bitter smile.

“You were engineered to never want stop fighting, brother. And if you don’t snap out of it, this will end up killing you.”

Rex stares at Cut to then grab his glass and gulps it down at once. He puts the glass back down on the table, hard, never breaking eye contact with the deserter.

“Then I shall die in the line of duty.”

* * *

Darth Vader speaks with his master in the communications room of the clone base. A large blue projection of the dark lord Darth Sidius floats over the meeting table, and Vader kneels to it.

“My young apprentice.” Sidius greets him

“Master.” says Vader respectfully “What is your bidding?”

“The Jedi that still remained in Coruscant have been successfully eliminated. You and your…” he pauses and his voice is like he’s grinning “family must join me so we can hold a meeting with the people I shall appoint to be charge of our new Empire. We are so close, lord Vader, soon we’ll have the entire galaxy under our flag.” Vader nods and obliges, but still Sidius sounds amused: “You seem uncertain. What troubles you, my apprentice?”

“Obi-Wan… Kenobi is not speaking with me, my master. I am doing as you’ve instructed me, I tell him of my deeds, I list the names of the fallen Jedi, I give details of my slaughters, I feed my Force on his, but he acknowledges nothing. He remains unresponsive, shielded by his own Force. He is resisting the fall to the dark side with unexpected tenacity.”

Sidius looks at him from under his hood and grimaces.

“Shouldn’t you kill him then?”

Vader’s heart skips a beat.

“No.” he draws in a breath “Like I said, master, I’ve seen his heart, and it’s tainted. There’s darkness in there, I just need to reach it and pull it out, make it ooze out of him and scorch away this weak shell in which he hides behind. He will be one of us. He will learn from me.”

Sidius gazes intently at his pupil’s eyes to unexpectedly smile.

“I shall wait for nothing but good news, Lord Vader.”

Vader means to answer, but Sidius cuts off the transmission before he can do so. Vader rises to his feet, stretching his neck as his hand goes over the scar on the right side of his face. He leaves the meeting room and the clones stand in attention at him.

“Keep an eye on my wife. She must not leave her room. I will be at the lower levels.”

Vader goes down the stairs, rehearsing the words in his head. Obi-Wan’s resilience has fed up his patience so far, and in order to please Sidius, he must find a way inside the darkness that, he is certain, resides in Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan remains sitting with his back turned to the door. The six guards standing by Obi-Wan’s cell also stand in attention at Vader’s presence, and he nods.

“At ease. I’ll have a moment with him.”

The men let their shoulders down, and Vader opens the reinforced glass with the Force. One of the troopers objects:

“Sir, I must warn you that he tried to fight before despite the handcuffs.”

Vader raises a hand.

“He is no match for me. You are dismissed. Leave us.”

He needs to say no more, as the men walk in formation out of the long corridor. As their steps die away in the distance, Vader crosses his arms.

“Your silence has made me grow weary.”

Obi-Wan doesn’t answer nor does he moves, and Vader clicks his tongue, walking to his side. As he gets closer he notices Obi-Wan’s thinner frame under his robes, and the tray of untouched food placed on the nearby table.

“Do you understand what I am trying to do for you?” he insists

Obi-Wan doesn’t answer, and he doesn’t raise his face to meet Vader’s eyes. Vader grits his teeth and reaches for Obi-Wan’s head, forcing him to look up as he grabs him by a fistful of his hair.

“My master has all the reasons to wish you dead and I’m putting my life on the line for you because of our friendship!”

Obi-Wan looks at him with weary eyes that are buried in his worn-out features, and a tremor runs over his cheek. His voice is raspy as if he had forgotten how to use it.

“I am no friend to you.”

Vader lowers his face closer to his former master, and he sees the red bags under Obi-Wan’s eyes, his dried up lips and his unkempt beard.

“What do you think you are then?”

“A prisoner.” Obi-Wan’s voice is low and calm but Vader can feel the surging emotions within his words “Of a fallen Jedi that betrayed the Order.”

Vader shakes his head by his hair, trying to match Obi-Wan’s calm but his voice comes out shaky.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not a Jedi. I never was.”

Obi-Wan smiles sarcastically, and Vader hates it.

“Don’t lie to yourself, Anakin. You were one of us, you were part of it. You learned from our teachings, you dressed in our garments, you spread our code, you fought in our battles…” Vader lets go of him as he pushes his head down, but it doesn’t stop him from going on “You were one of our generals, you were a friend to us. We let you in our hearts and our home and you destroyed them both.”

Vader points a finger at Obi-Wan and scowls.

“I was lied to, and so were you. I’m trying to help you.”

Obi-Wan looks up to him with tired eyes, and his hands tied by handcuffs remain still and useless on his lap.

“I don’t want your help, Darth Vader. So either let me wither to death or kill me already. You can take my life, but you will never pry my honor out of me.”

Vader snarls and paces around Obi-Wan like an animal measuring its prey. Obi-Wan watches him without another word, until the Sith Lord finally sits down in front of him, and Obi-Wan's eyes drift above his head as if he means to ignore Vader’s presence. Vader, however, speaks.

“Let’s begin today’s report then, shall we? Today, despite their efforts to hide after the rise of the Dark Side, I managed to find Master Muro and his padawan Len. They were hiding in one of the Republic bases, trying to hold the troopers out.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes don’t seem to acknowledge the fact, but Vader notices his jaw tensing up. Vader breathes slowly in and out, channeling out his dark Force like Sidius had taught him. _Let it surround him like smoke, let it scratch its nails on his precious clean Force, let it soil it._

“Oh, yes.” he says, making an effort to draw pleasure from the way Obi-Wan twists his lips in disgust “Muro fought well. Look in my mind and you shall see it like a holo-vid. He stayed back to protect his Padawan. He never saw my attack coming. You should be proud, Obi-Wan, the diagonal strike you taught me have proven itself useful.”

He sees Obi-Wan swallowing hard. _There. Dig dipper in the open wound._

“All your teachings combined to my new master’s have made me an unstoppable warrior. This is it, Obi-Wan.” he opens his arms “I am the result of your efforts. Take pride in what you made.”

Obi-Wan flinches, turning his face away and Vader grabs him by the jaw, forcing Obi-Wan to look at him.

“Feel this anger. Let it in. Let it hurt you.”

Obi-Wan’s blue eyes look deep into Vader, and a light flickers in them.

“You are right, Darth. I see everything like a holo-vid. I see you letting the wounded padawan escape.” Vader’s eyes grow wide, and he lets go of Obi-Wan. The former master, however, continues to talk “I see a trooper shoot him and I see your grief, even if nobody else have. I see Sidius punishing you for your failure. I see… lightning that burns like fire!”

Vader jumps to his feet, roaring:

“NO!”

Vader lifts Obi-Wan up by his neck with the Force, and the Jedi’s feet kick frantically as he tries to break free, but his Force is bound by the handcuffs, there’s nothing he can do except gasp for air and glare at Vader’s eyes that are gleaming yellow now.

“Anakin…” he coughs “He’s using you… Let me help. Let me…”

“He’s ‘using me’?” Vader snarls

Vader tosses Obi-Wan across the cell, and the Jedi collides hard against the wall, falling down with a pained grunt. While Obi-Wan coughs struggling to sit up, Vader walks to him.

“And what difference does it make? The Jedi used me, what do you care if he were to be using me? I suppose that’s only a problem when you are not on the side that is pulling the strings.”

Vader bends over, grabbing Obi-Wan by his robes and pushing him against the cold wall.

“How does it feel, being unable to choose, having a fate forced upon you, your willpower stripped away?!” Vader is gritting his teeth so hard his head hurts; the fury that burns in his chest matches the pain that still runs on his body after Sidius’ punishment “You and your Jedi friends groomed me and turned me into a slave, just a cleaner, more orthodox-looking. They fed me fake love and pretty lies. You never wanted Anakin Skywalker, you wanted this power inside me, what it could do, the way it could turn the tide of the war in your favor.”

“No. We've never…”

But Vader doesn’t listen; He clenches a fist with his flesh hand and punches Obi-Wan across his jaw.

“And what I’m doing with you is the exact opposite! You’re weaker than I am and I still want to save you because you are Obi-Wan Kenobi!” Obi-Wan has a cut on his lower lip now and it bleeds down his chin; Vader’s breathing is shallow and gutural. “I just want you to join me. Together, you and I will be the stronger generals in the galaxy, and we’ll fight under the rule of Padmé’s. The three of us will be finally together, no codes holding us apart anymore. Join me, my friend.”

“Never.”

Obi-Wan looks defiantly at Vader. The sith lord grimaces, looking at his former master for almost an entire minute in silence. His frown slowly turns into shock and and his eyes go wide once more.

“I see it now.” he whispers “The hatred in your eyes.”

Obi-Wan hesitates to then narrow his eyes.

“You see only what you wish to see.”

Vader shakes his head dismissively. He looks puzzled, curious even.

“You hate me.” he frowns, still pensive “It’s not as I envisioned your fall, but it shall be enough. Yes... It shall set it all in motion.”

“I do not hate you.” Obi-Wan insists, balling his handcuffed fists “I wish I could, but I don’t.”

Darth Vader rises to his feet. He gazes at Obi-Wan in complete silence for a few seconds to then turn his back on him without another word. Obi-Wan calls him back, calls him by both his former name and his current one, but the Sith leaves the cell, closing it on his way back out to the corridor and leaves, his steps echoing in the empty space.

Obi-Wan smoothes over the darkening mark on his chin where Vader had punched him and a shiver runs down his spine as he lowers his eyes.

“I could never hate you.”


	10. As He Walks the Burning Trails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vader witnesses the slow transition of the Republic into an Empire as Sidius hands all the decision power to the military board. Kenobi is taken to the Emperor's presence, where the Sith Emperor and his apprentice both expect the lone Jedi to join them in the dark side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit by the end could be considered torture.

Vader leans over his children’s crib, watching over their sleep. He could watch them for hours and would never grow tired of it. Leia’s hands are balled into little fists and Luke’s holding tight onto of her wrists.

 _Clingy boy,_ Vader thinks with an endeared smile, _just like I used to be._

Padmé is deep in her slumber, and Vader makes sure to hold the twins and sing to them whenever they’d wake up so that she can have some much needed rest. Since their sleep wasn’t synchronized, the two would wake up at different hours, making the past few days exhaustive on their mother. Vader is tired too, but cleaning them and rocking them to sleep was such a contrast to his duties as the Emperor’s henchman that he had little to no complains over the babies many needs.

“As long as you’re not hungry, leave it to me.” he whispers “Unfortunately, your mother is the only one able to feed you for now. When you’re bigger I’ll be more helpful… I hope.”

 _I wonder if I’ll be able to teach Luke to fly. Leia too, of course, if she wishes to. C-3PO did mention that the boy loves shiny metal things, maybe these two will have the skill for assembling machines like their father._ Leia vocalizes in her sleep, funny little sounds that make no sense and Vader lets out a whispered laughter. _And this little one will probably be smart like her mother._

“Oh, you will drive me crazy just like she does, won’t you?”

On the morning that followed, Padmé wakes up and finds Vader lying asleep on his bed, still holding the twins. Her eyes well up with tears.

_I still see Ani in you, Lord Vader. And I will save him._

 

Later that afternoon their ship arrives at the base, and Vader leaves Padmé and the twins in order to personally receive the clone troopers that come marching out of it. The men stop in perfect formation in front of the Sith Lord, and the squad leader booms:

“ _Attention!_ Lord Vader is here!” Vader has his hands behind his back, looking at the men dressed in clone armor; the leader wears the ARC trooper uniform with the blue shoulder pads and has his posture impeccable as his men's “Sir, we are very honored to be serving under you.”

Vader looks at the blue V shape on the trooper’s helmet.

“it was my decision to bring you specifically, commander Appo.” he gazes at the troopers standing in attention “After all, I haven’t forgotten about your bravery during the assault on the Jedi temple, and there is a reason why I’ve requested the 501st to be assigned to fly us to Coruscant. I intend on filing a request to the Emperor in order to have you always under my command. I trust no battalion as much as I do this one.”

Appo still stands in attention, the face under the helmet looking straight ahead as protocol demanded it.

“And we shall honor such trust, my lord.”

Vader nods, turning his back on his men.

“Get everything ready for departure. We will be escorting Senator Amidala and a Jedi prisoner, and they must arrive safely on Coruscant.”

“Yessir.”

* * *

The troops in charge of the senate building in Coruscant line up in attention as Vader walks beside Padmé. She had refused to wear the extravagant gown that Vader had his men bring out from Naboo, preferring to wear a plain white tunic and a pair of red-brown pants. Her hair is tied on a long braid and she wears red lipstick lined in the center of her lips, but no jewelry. Vader hesitates before he speaks:

“I don’t see a reason for you to be wearing this grimace. Look around, Padmé, feel this calm. No terrorist attacks, no fear from bounty hunters or whatever harm the Separatists could bring us, no power struggle between Sith and Jedi. In less than four days, Coruscant has been made entirely peaceful. This is proof of the Empire’s efficiency.”

The senator scoffs, clearly eager for a reason to speak her mind, sarcasm dripping from her words.

“Oh, yes, everything is peaceful. I hope you know that soon there will be revolutions and civil war. This is merely the initial shock of the people after a coup.”

Vader sighs, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

“It hasn’t been a coup, Padmé. We saved the people from the Jedi threat.”

Padmé turns to him and snarls.

“Oh, Palpatine may have fooled you, or maybe you are trying to fool others, but do not dare pretend to believe this in front of me. The Jedi were no threat and you know it.”

Vader looks at Padmé and sighs in exasperation. She still looks at his injured eye and he can notice it.

“‘No threat.’ I’ll remember that whenever I need to look at something on my right or when I miss my left leg.” he pauses “My master is willing to discuss with the former senators for a way to make the transition smoother for everyone, for the people and for us. Now, without the threat of the Jedi there can finally be proper, balanced negotiations.”

Padmé shakes her head, but before she can say a word as they reach the elevator Commander Appo gets to them.

 “Sir, Kenobi has been placed in restraints as you requested.”

Vader nods.

“Good. Wait for my orders.”

“Yessir. We’ve also found a tip regarding Tano’s location. A couple of bounty hunters think they saw a troguta woman on the Outer Rim. We got the coordinates.”

As the elevator doors open, Vader frowns.

“‘A troguta woman’ is not much of a lead, commander.”

Appo nods promptly:

“They reported that she was dragged out of a ship along a clone by another man dressed in a black cape and hood but they couldn’t identify him. That’s all they saw.”

Vader offers his hand to Padmé, but she ignores the gesture and enters the elevator by herself. Vader retreats his hand and turns to Appo one last time before he walks into the elevator.

“Wait for my orders, commander. I will look into this personally.”

“Very well, sir.”

As Vader and Padmé reach the Senate meeting room, entering Padmé’s usual pod from which she had represented Naboo many times before, he sees the men and women rising up their chairs to look at the newcomers. He recognizes a few of them. There is Mon Mothma dressed in a white tunic dress, her arms crossed and her face tensed up. Then he sees Admiral Yularen and Grand Admiral Tarkin, both wearing the military uniforms with which they used to serve the republic until very recently. Padmé frowns at the sight of the military in the Senate room but then gasps, commanding her pod to float to the man who is getting up from beside Mothma’s.

“Bail!”

“Padmé!” Bail stretches his arm to reach her hand over the rail and hold it tight “Oh my dear, we’ve been worried for you.”

Vader still looks around from Padmé’s pod. He sees men he had worked alongside with, some of them seeming apprehensive, others looking but mildly curious. Tarkin was most definitely almost smiling.

Bail calls for a “master Skywalker” and it takes Vader a few seconds to remember that he is still expected to answer to this name so he turns to the Senator. He’s looking at him with concern, especially at his scar. As a matter of fact, everyone in the room seems to be looking at Vader, at the lightsabers on his belt, at the black cloak over his shoulders and the milky white of his damaged eye. He hears the whispers here and there and the damn word, “Jedi”. Bail, however, nods to Vader.

“Hello, general Skywalker. I see they tried to kill you in that… that horrible mass murder. The news only got to Coruscant yesterday, of the Jedi temple, and Windu’s death… I heard your friend Kenobi is missing. I’m terribly sorry.”

Vader looks down to Bail’s brown eyes and he sees Padmé glaring at him besides her friend. Vader narrows his eyes.

“No need to be sorry, senator Organa. The jedi were attempting a coup at our republic. I was one of the few to realize their foul intentions and defend us from them.” he looks defiantly at Padmé “And I take pride in it.”

_You were my brother I loved you he’s a sith now run I’ll hold him off how could you betray us why Anakin_

The words invade his brain like radio static on Obi-Wan’s, Jocasta and so many other jedi’s voices, some of the last words of brave warriors, and Vader clenches his jaw. Bail frowns and Mothma hesitates before saying from the other side of Padmé’s pod:

“You can’t possibly believe in this nonsense, general. This is much clearly a coup. Supreme chancellor Palpatine just issued an state of emergency and a curfew for the citizens of Coruscant. He is issuing orders without the Senate’s approval and as a matter of fact Bail, a few others and I are the only ones still alive.”

Bail looked down to Padmé, and her features are clouded with confusion.

“So many of our colleagues disappeared or were found dead we feared the same could’ve happened to you.”

Padmé looks at Mothma then at Bail and grimaces. She seems to refuse to look at Vader. Mothma sighs:

“And now he requests a meeting with the few of us who are still left and these… Army and Navy commanders. I have no idea what are his intentions, but I don’t like it.”

As if he’d heard her, a large tridimensional image of Palpatine rises from the projector in the central pod. Every person who had still remained sitting gets up to their feet in attention.

“I see all of you have managed to arrive. You may sit down.” he says dryly “This will be a very important meeting, especially to our senators.”

The group obliges, and Palpatine looks around. In the projection, he appears to be sitting on a black throne, and the hood over his head darkens his features.

“I would like to thank you for joining this emergency meeting. Much needs to be discussed. Our new political strategies must be redefined in face of this crisis. Some things must be modified and improved.” He glances at Tarkin’s direction and the admiral nods curtly; Yularen doesn’t seem so comfortable, for he looks at Vader and then lowers his eyes as if he’s ashamed. “Others must have their issues acknowledged and fixed.” Palpatine looks precisely at Mothma and Bail.

The meeting goes, although not smoothly. Palpatine declares that based on his powers, he shall leave the military board in charge of the politics in Coruscant and all the planets aligned with the former republic. Mon Mothma gets up in outrage.

“You can’t leave politics in charge of your military leaders! We have representatives for each planet in the republic, Chancellor, their voices speak for their people! Our system is based in democracy, in debate!”

Palpatine turns his head to look at Mothma, and despite his hooded features, Vader can swear he smiles.

“Our very system have conceded me the power to make such a decision, Senator Mothma. And I believe we are very much in need of a military state after the Jedi treason. Thanks to the clone trooper’s bravery we have managed to avoid this situation from turning into a massacre.”

“It turned into a massacre!” Bail exclaims, getting up too “I’ve seen what the clones did at the Jedi temple. They fired at unarmed men and women, at children! A boy no older than thirteen was shot in front of me, I saw it all!”

Palpatine makes a long pause to then shake his head very slowly.

“If those treacherous warriors trained children to go to war and never to surrender, we are certainly not to blame for defending our people from them.”

Mothma intervenes:

“But the republic’s allegiance…!”

“There is no longer a republic, Senator Mothma!” Palpatine’s voice sounds more similar to the one he uses as Vader’s master’s, Sidius “This is an Empire now! I am your newly appointed Emperor! And we no longer make allegiances with the Jedi. No, we shall will hunt the rest of them down and free our galaxy of their threat, and for that I am counting on our army and our navy, men and women who stood their ground in this foul attempt at the former Republic and the people it served.”

Mothma looks deranged; Vader have never seen her so angry. She slams her hands on her table so hard the thud echoes in the wide room.

“We will not have any decision power if you pass these bills! What do you expect us to do, sit pretty on our desks, smiling at the people and keeping a charade of democracy as you turn the Republic into a dictatorship?!”

At that, the Grand Moff Tarkin rises to his feet, a soft smile spreading on his lips.

“Precisely.” He cocks his head to the side “What other use does a Senate have, if not pretending to the people that we are civilized beings? You all seemed very comfortable in this very room as my men and I stood in the battlefront risking our lives.”

Bail places his hand on his own table, glaring daggers at Tarkin.

“We were signing treaties and laws that _aided_ you in your war.” he says, apparently very calm but his voice trembles with rage “Laws that made _entire_ _clone battalions_ for you, forged allegiances with formerly neutral planets that started accepting to serve as base for _your troops_ , and peace treaties that we did our best to have signed, but you and your soldiers seemed to be too fond of the battle to even acknowledge our efforts.”

Director Krennic doesn’t even get up of his seat as he shoots a smug look at Bail.

“The clone requests to which you so frequently opposed, correct, Senator Organa? I do check my paperwork. Our researches for mass destruction weapons thoroughly denied on your feeble _life rights_ mentality, the allegiances constantly torn by the very people who signed the treaties because the Separatists would pay them more than the republic. This senate did nothing but stall this war and make it last longer than it should ever have.”

Bail turns to Krennic, his face livid.

“Now, listen to me you ambitious…”

Padmé gets up and at that.

“Senator Organa, please.” Bail whispers her name and then silences. Padmé draws in a deep breath and looks at Yularen, asking earnestly “Admiral, do you agree with this? All of this? After serving in the clone wars, after seeing what you’ve seen fighting alongside the Generals Skywalker, Kenobi and all the other Jedi?”

Yularen looks at Padmé, and though his face seems carved in stone, his eyes are sad.

“I am a navy official, Senator Amidala. This is my job. If there’s a new leader running the office, it’s not my place to disobey them. As I served to the Republic, I shall serve under this Empire.”

Vader crosses his arms. Yularen is an intelligent man, and, much like himself, knows how to asset his situation and measure his options. Palpatine, however, orders for all those who are standing up to sit down, and Padmé sinks back to her sit. Vader still stands, but Palpatine does not address this yet:

“That would be all for the former Council’s members. You are free to leave now, senators. From this moment on, we shall take a private meeting solely with our military.”

Padmé still looks at Yularen.

“You can’t possibly have forgotten…!”

“I said.” Palpatine cuts sharply “You are free to leave, senators. I do not wish to call for security.”

As the automatic doors open and the clone troopers whose armors have details painted red stand out as a sort of warning, Vader grabs Padmé’s arm, whispering:

“Leave. Appo will take you to the children. Trust nobody else besides him or his men.”

Padmé looks at her husband, and her face is flushed with anger.

“You want me to let this chaos take place?!”

Vader hardens his tone, still whispering.

“It’s over. The republic is gone and you can’t save it anymore. The only thing that matters are our children. Stay with them, and I will meet you shortly.”

Padmé shakes her head:

“No. No, what is happening? What are you going to do, where is Obi-Wan?”

One of the troopers walks in their space, demanding for the senator to go with him. Across the room, two troopers are dragging Mothma out as she screams threats at the military board. Bail orders the soldiers not to touch them and walks out with disgust in his features. Other senators still protest, some of them being dragged out by the troopers.

“Just go.” Vader’s voice is an urgent whisper now “Go and watch over them. I’ll meet you shortly.”

Padmé slaps the trooper’s hand as he reaches for her, and with one last angry look at Vader she leaves, as the other senators do and the room is left in deafening silence. It wouldn’t last long though, as General Tagge points a finger to Vader.

“Your highness, if you’ll allow me to speak, I believe we are all wondering what one of the traitors of the empire, a Jedi, is doing here.”

Palpatine’s image turns to Vader very slowly.

“Oh, yes… I have been wondering when any of you would be going to ask. Come, my apprentice.” Vader commands the platform to carry him floating beside Palpatine’s projection; he looks at the military officers surrounding in silence as his master continues “This is no Jedi. This is Darth Vader, my apprentice, and he shall take his place as the supreme commander of the Imperial forces. This young man is my eyes and ears; nothing shall take place without his approval. His command is my will. Do you understand that?”

There is silence, and many of the officers look at Vader in a mixture of concern and disbelief. _They doubt me. Like the Jedi did._ Vader absently places a hand on the grip of his lightsaber, still looking at them.

“I believe they did not hear you properly, master.” says Vader in a soft tone “I shall repeat it then. I am your supreme commander, and you owe me your loyalty and your lives. Do you understand that?”

Yularen is the only one to speak. He joins his fingers pensively and answers:

“Yes, I do, Lord Vader.”

Vader wants to smile at his old friend, but there’s no room for such amenities. Instead, he blinks slowly.

“If you do, Admiral, why are you doing sitting down instead of standing in attention?”

Yularen promptly rises to his feet, straightening his shoulders and looking straight ahead in a perfect attention stance. Tarkin does the same, and Krennic is quick to follow. The act is imitated by every single officer in the room except for one of the generals who remain sitting, and Vader looks at him with a look of mild annoyance.

“Is there a problem, General Pilla?”

The general lifts his eyes up to Vader, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I have served the Republic army for thirty years now. I will not be ordered around by a mere boy. We have a chance to have the entire galaxy under our flag and we can’t afford to jeopardize everything because our commander barely knows what is it to be an officer in command.”

Vader breathes deep, feeling the hot anger boiling in his chest. He looks up to Palpatine, and his master cocks his head to the side, sounding amused.

“It appears like general Pilla isn’t taking your position in the Empire very seriously.”

The general looks straight into Vader’s eyes.

“With all due respect, your highness, I know the Jedi were allowed the position of generals because of no reason other than their alleged powers and glowing swords, unlike any of us in this room who had to fight their way up.”

Vader has his hand raised ahead before he even realizes it, and the general’s eyes go wide as he coughs.

“General, if I may say so…” he glances at Sidius’ projection, waiting for an order to let the man go, but his master doesn’t seem to mind as he lifts the other man by his neck with the force, and Vader looks back at him “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

The general coughs harder now, his feet kicking frantically in the air as Vader clenches his fingers harder. He can feel his heard breathing as if his victim is actually being choked by it. Vader presses one last time, hard, and the nauseating sound of bones snapping crack in the silent room. The General’s body slumps down on his platform like a deactivated droid, heavy and immobile. Tarkin doesn’t even flinch, and perhaps the only emotion shown by Yularen is a small tremor on his cheek. Some of the lower ranks look wide-eyed at the dead man, but nobody utters a word.

“Now that we cleared this subject.” Says Vader calmly, lowering his hand “I suppose you all understand my crucial position in our Empire.”

The men have a few seconds to process what they have witnessed before Sidius speaks again:

“This should be all for today, gentlemen. Go back to work. Lord Vader, I must speak with you in person one last time before I let you go.”

Most of the men seem more than pleased to leave the room, a few of them still looking over their shoulders to have a last glimpse of the sith lord before he exits the room. Vader is pleased with himself. His master trusts him – enough to leave his Empire under his charge, to trust him to pass his decision on to the Imperial army.

* * *

  _He will also teach me the ways of the dark side of the force. If I manage to learn all he has to teach me, I shall overcome his strength and then nothing will stop from getting rid of him. If Padmé were to rule, I could protect her and our empire would flourish into perfection, forever,_ Vader thinks to himself as he stands before the double doors where the Emperor’s personal guards dressed in red from head to toe pound their staffs on the floor. The doors to Palpatine’s – Sidius’ – office slide open and Vader walks in.

The place looks very different now, all decorated in black furniture and a few red details here and there in the decoration, and instead of the office desk, there is but a black throne in front of the wide window that peers to the city. Sidius is sitting on the throne, with his features hidden by the hood of his black cloak, and Vader steps closer to him to then kneel down, placing his bionic hand closed in a fist over his chest.

“My lord.” he bows his head “You honor me with the command of your troops. I will be worthy of your trust.”

Sidius rises to his feet and Vader stands still, despite how his jaw tenses up. He tries not to think of the blue lightning, of the pain scorching him and the spasms running through his body. He tries not to think of Sidius’ spiteful, hateful tone when Vader almost failed to kill a young padawan when he had been out hunting Jedi. He almost flinches as Sidius reaches a hand down to him, but he doesn’t move.

Then Sidius’ hand gently cups his jaw, lifting his face up so he can meet his master’s yellow eyes glowing in the shadows of his hood.

“I know you will, my apprentice.” he says softly “I see so much potential in you.”

Vader’s breath stills in his lungs. Sidius smiles to him, and as he lets go of Vader’s face, the apprentice realizes how it feels to be worthy of his approval; a man that truly wishes to see his full potential, how far his strength can take him. It feels good. It reminds him of Shmi Skywalker’s indulging smile whenever she’d see her son fixing up some allegedly irreparable droid.

“Now rise.” Sidius orders him “I wish to see your progress with Kenobi.”

Vader gets up to his feet, pressing the comlink on his wrist.

“Commander Fox, you can bring him in now.”

Vader takes his place by the Emperor side as he sinks back in his throne. The double doors slide open and the Emperor’s guards promptly point their spears towards them. Five clone troopers dressed in the red-coded armor escort a bound Obi-Wan towards the middle of the room. His eyes are fixated on Sidius, and Vader can notice how tense his jaw is. Fox gives him a rough push on his left shoulder and a kick to the back of his shin to force him on his knees. Obi-Wan falls down with a grunt and winces, never lowering his eyes, and the troopers have their guns pointed at him, their fingers over the trigger guards.

Fox bows his head, placing a closed fist over his chest.

“Should we remain here to secure him, Lord Vader?”

Vader looks at Obi-Wan, realizing his former master hasn’t looked at him since he entered the room. He still glares at the Emperor without blinking. However, before Vader can answer Sidius does.

“Leave us. All of you.” he adds to his own personal guards

The troopers bow their heads solemnly before taking the three respectful steps back to then walk out of the room, and the guards dressed in red do the same. When the doors close behind them, there is nothing but silence. Vader sees it clearer now, the hatred – it’s there, despite Obi-Wan denying it so vehemently. He wonders if Obi-Wan will repeat the same charade he’d done before, guarding his silence, pretending to be superior, wiser, but the Jedi snarls aggressively.

“I take you must be very proud, chancellor. Such a well-orchestrated plan… The clone troopers, the coup, the successive bills that slowly gave you all the political power you needed.” he doesn’t break eye contact with Sidius for a second as he speaks “But you couldn’t take the Jedi order on your own, so you twisted good people for such foul purposes. First Dooku and then…”

He trails off, lowering his eyes. It’s like he can’t bear to look at Vader or speak of him. Vader looks at his wrists and sees how they’ve grown dark where the handcuffs met them. He looks even thinner, weaker than he did back at the former Republic’s base. Sidius speaks, and his voice sounds like the soft concern he’d just shown Vader.

“You must know that the entire Jedi order has been exterminated.”

“No.” Obi-Wan says aggressively “No, I can still feel them, they’re still out there, they will keep the fight, they will…”

“They cannot fight the empire.” Sidius continues in the same tone “None of the Jedi can. I take you are grasping on what little faith you have because you believe in your mightiest champion, Yoda.” He shakes his head slowly “I killed him myself. And the few others who are still on the run will be hunt down and destroyed.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes go wide at that, and he raises his face to meet Sidius’ again with absolute horror on his features.

“You couldn’t have… No, not Yoda, he…” Obi-Wan’s brows are knitted in confusion and shock “No.”

Obi-Wan’s shoulders drop down and he sinks sitting on his ankles. Sidius smiles at him.

“It’s over, Kenobi. It’s time for the new era of the Sith, and the sooner you accept it, the best it will be for you.”

Sidius rises up to his feet, and Vader feels his dark Force filling the entire room like a thick fog. Obi-Wan swallows hard as the man takes a few steps towards him, towering above his kneeling form.

“The force is strong with you, Kenobi. You could accomplish great things if you were to open your heart to the dark side.”

Obi-Wan looks at Sidius’ eyes and snarls in defiance.

“Never.”

Sidius grabs hold of his neck with the force, and Obi-Wan coughs softly.

“Lord Vader was right. Your heart is tainted. It’s so hard to keep your balance isn’t it? At some point, all jedi are bound to fall for something. Anger, vengeance, attachment. Why keep these feelings at bay when you can harbor them, draw your strength from them?”

Obi-Wan’s face is twisted in disgust and he fights against the invisible grasp holding him in place.

“No.”

“She was beautiful indeed, what a shame. I can see all of it, Kenobi. Her smile, the sun shining on her golden hair.”

“No!” Obi-Wan shakes desperately now, struggling to break free from the Sith Lord’s hold “Get out of here! Get out of my head!”

Sidius places a hand on Obi-Wan’s  head, running his fingers through his hair.

“I see it now. That chaste kiss, that broken promise. Torn between your Jedi code and your own wild heart, how...terrible.”

Obi-Wan tugs at his handcuffs so hard they dig deep cuts on his skin and fresh blood stains his white robes. His voice is not as angry now, sounding rather broken instead.

“Get out, these are not yours to see, stay out of my head, stay out of my…!”

Sidius grabs hold of Obi-Wan’s face, clamping his hand over his mouth.

“I see the Duchess, Kenobi. I see your master Qui-Gon, and I see your apprentice. I see your attachment, your wish to keep them close to you and your anger at your failures. You have nothing left. You have no other choice. You belong to me, to the dark side.”

He finally lets go of Obi-Wan and the Jedi coughs to then begin to murmur to himself, barely catching a breath between each word, uttering words that Vader still remembered very well.

“There is no emotion, there is peace, there is no ignorance, there is knowledge, there is no passion, there is serenity, there is no chaos, there is harmony, there is no death, there is the Force, _I am one with the force the force is one with me I am one with the force the force is one with me—”_

It’s like a desperate prayer, as if Obi-Wan is begging the Force to keep him sane, to keep him whole and maybe this is what it really is. However, Sidius raises a hand towards the Jedi. Vader flinches, knowing the gesture too well…

Blue lightning flows from the Sith Lord’s fingers, hitting Obi-Wan on his chest. The Jedi endures the pain, grunting between his clenched teeth. Sidius snarls, sending even more of his dark energy on Obi-Wan’s tired, weak form. Obi-Wan collapses to the ground, screaming as spasms run over his body. Vader hears the lightining cracking, hears his former master’s deafening screams and his eyes go wide yet he does not move, clenching his fists and averting his eyes. The horrifying torture seems to last hours but in fact doesn’t last more than a few minutes; Sidius knows it could kill Kenobi, Vader thinks to himself, and that’s not the point of it all. They need him broken, not dead. They must make him hopeless and hateful.

As the lightning subsides, Obi-Wan still trembles on the floor with its aftershocks. His eyes are filled with pain as they finally turn to look at his former apprentice.

“You are not this… You are not like him… I know it…” he gasps, pushing himself up in order to sit and then finally stand on wobbly knees “Anakin, please…”

Sidius turns to his apprentice and smiles, gesturing to Obi-Wan. Vader hesitates to then walk to the Jedi. Obi-Wan’s eyes are hopeful as he gasps Anakin’s name once more, _begging, trembling, weak and pathetic…_

Vader backhands him hard across his face, and Obi-Wan staggers, grunting as Vader’s gloved fingers grab him by his jaw, forcing him to look into his eyes – the good one and the one Obi-Wan himself had burned with his lightsaber.

“Anakin is dead.” he says and he means it “I killed him with my own hands. He cried and begged like all you Jedi do before I thrusted my lightsaber across his weak little heart. I need not balance over my feelings. I feel it all, all the rage, all the lust and the love, all the joy and the happiness and the hatred. It has set me free, my old master, and it shall soon set you free as well.”

And at that he lets go of Obi-Wan, grabbing at his neck now with the Force. Obi-Wan’s eyes go wide, welling up with tears as he whispers Anakin’s name one last time before he loses his senses and slumps down unconscious on the ground. He looks small and weak, so far from the powerful master he once had been.

“He is resilient.” says Sidius from behind Vader’s “But you were right, apprentice. He loves. He is attached. And he hates. He has failed where so many other Jedi have, and he will soon join our side. It’s only a matter of time.”

Vader looks down to his former master, his former friend. Anakin would be devastated, but Vader feels hopeful. Yes, soon they will be together again, this time on the right side. He will wait as long as it takes.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for any grammar mistakes as English is not my first language.


End file.
